Off Campus Networking

The use of broadband home networking has become ubiquitous and for most an essential service. It is Duke administrative policy not to allow Duke funds to used for home broadband expenses.

The prevalent options are Spectrum, AT&T and a variety of DSL providers. The most heavily marketed DSL provider in this area is Frontier. Shop comparatively before picking a plan. Fee structures change periodically, as do upload and download throughput rates.

Cable, U-verse or DSL service provides a single point of access to a residence. Typically one attaches to the cable or DSL modem a small, consumer grade router providing wired and wireless service to computers and network printers in one's home.

If you are heavily reliant on a single laptop and travel extensively, a broadband wireless card may be appropriate. While expensive and generally limited to one laptop, these cards provide maximum geographic coverage and throughput. Alternatively some configure their smartphone to periodically function as a wireless hotspot for laptop or tablet devices and incur the additional data charges as neeeded.