Personal Internet Access

jebdad

10-Year Member
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Aug 19, 2013
Messages
1,220
There is an option to pay an additional $10 or so for internet access for personal use. Is this something a plebe will have a need for? If you opt out, you can't opt back in until next August. I was going to advise DD to decline, but is this something they will need? Would it be required for Skype or something similar? I just don't see DD using it or having time to other than possibly communicating with family.
 
You need it do do everything other than academic work and such from what I hear


2019 WestPoint class appointee

Recipient of 4 year army rotc scholarship.
 
Hopefully a current cadet will respond. My DS doesn't pay anything extra and has internet access, and I don't think it's just on his issued laptop/iPad since he has a second laptop in his room.
 
It depends on the cellular service provider. If your CC has unlimited data, then it's not an issue. If you have a limit, then it is better to get the wifi. That's based upon this year and the data usage I've heard about. I had to increase my DS's data in order to cover the usage prior to internet availability for personal use.
 
10$ is a bargain for Internet not to mention it is just a fraction of the stipend


2019 WestPoint class appointee

Recipient of 4 year army rotc scholarship.
 
There is an option to pay an additional $10 or so for internet access for personal use. Is this something a plebe will have a need for? If you opt out, you can't opt back in until next August. I was going to advise DD to decline, but is this something they will need? Would it be required for Skype or something similar? I just don't see DD using it or having time to other than possibly communicating with family.

This is absolutely something every cadet needs. Without it, internet traffic is restricted to the USMA Blackboard website which some classes use to post documents and assignments. Before the upgrade, the internet was decent, but it was noticeably poor during the weekends when everyone was using up the broadband for Netflix and the like. This $10 per month "option" increased the internet speed by a factor of ten, and needless to say, it hasn't been a problem since. I put "option" in quotations because it isn't really an option. Everyone needs it. Sure there's the recreational uses of the internet which people can survive without, but we also need the internet to do research and keep up with the news and a lot of the time going to the library or elsewhere isn't an option. According to the colonel in charge of the upgrade, 99.8% of the Corps opted in. He also mentioned that the upgrade would mean paying $10 a month for 14Mbps per cadet while he personally pays ~$40 a month for 1.5Mbps.

Hopefully a current cadet will respond. My DS doesn't pay anything extra and has internet access, and I don't think it's just on his issued laptop/iPad since he has a second laptop in his room.

Personal computers aren't (yet) allowed onto the USMA network under any circumstances, that's a violation of SOP. Not that cadets don't do it anyway of course.
 
Are you sure? I saw a few cadets with personal laptops so they might have an alternate wifi connection


2019 WestPoint class appointee

Recipient of 4 year army rotc scholarship.
 
Supposedly only 4 or 5 cadets out of the whole corps opted out this year. Although cadets are very busy, there is some downtime on the weekends and even the most diligent of workers need a break. Many cadets opt in so that they can enjoy Youtube, Facebook, Skype, Netflix, etc. At least opt in this first year and if your cadet finds that they do not need it they can always opt out in the future.
 
Are you sure? I saw a few cadets with personal laptops so they might have an alternate wifi connection

I can't speak to what WiFi connections they might own personally, but here's the line from the SOP I'm referring to:

"...examples of inappropriate activities include...connecting non-IETD provided systems to the network. This includes personal computers, iPhones and gaming systems."
 
In my day, when we wanted to link X-boxes (the original one) we had to run cat-5 from room to room.
 
I guess thats better than soup cans linked by string.

I think that pretty much describes the interwebs at USMA at least up until the recent upgrades. DS was considering buying them one more 56k dial-up modem so they could double their capacity. ;)
 
The cadets I talked to on my overnight said that it was worth the 10 extra dollars to have the extra internet. I was thinking about opting out as well, but apparently if you don't opt in you won't be getting much besides blackboard and outlook.
 
Over on the parents FB page, a question was posed about what the cadets need in terms of internet. Do they need to buy the $10 package that is offered to them.

Debra Dalton chimed in and I thought that some might find her answer helpful:
"They will have access to a basic web or enhanced. Enhanced (more band width for movies, etc.) is what they are paying for."
 
It comes out of the funny money, so they'll never notice.

And that's probably why I didn't know my DS signed up for it even though I know he has it. Most everything he has done on his own -- he only lets me know about things when he has a question (or good news).
 
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