Rules & Charges

The University of Cambridge Computing Service provides Homerton with an Internet connection. A requirement for this type of connection is that all users must be authenticated and need to abide by the rules defined by the University. This is additional to the Homerton College IT Security Policy, which all Residents will have signed on Registration day.

For detailed information, please review:

Rules In A Nutshell

You may use the network for academic purposes

You may not use the network for:
  • Transmission or deliberate reception of defamatory material
  • Transmission of unsolicited advertising material
  • Transmission or deliberate reception of racist, sexist, pornographic or generally offensive material
  • Any action which jeopardises the integrity of the network or any other users data
  • Financial gain or for any illegal purpose
  • Transmission or deliberate reception that infringes another person's copyright (this applies to the vast majority of digital music and video files).
  • You may not operate a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol on your computer. This includes (among others): BitTorrent, Limewire, Morpheus, BitComet, iMesh, FlashGet, Shareaza, Azureus Muze, DirectConnect, Grokster, Hotline Connect, Channel4 onDemand, BBCi Player, ITV Catchup and Sky Anytime.

Peer to Peer Software

Kazaa Logo iMesh Logo eDonkey Logo Morpheus Logo Limewire Logo
Channel4 OnDemand BBC iPlayer SKY Anytime  

Unauthorised use of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software (such as KaZaA, iMesh, eDonkey, Morpheus, Limewire) will almost certainly render you vulnerable to exceeding your quota and you may be charged for this traffic as deemed appropriate. They might also cause you to be in breach of copyright law, which will not be tolerated. It is a prerequisite that applications of this type have their services disabled or uninstalled before connection to the College network. This also includes iTunes and Windows Media Player sharing.

Disciplinary Procedures

The University and Homerton College reserve the right to monitor network traffic and probe PC's on the network for vulnerabilities. Abuse of the network rules may lead to the college initiating disciplinary procedures depending upon the severity. Initially, the I.T. Department will send the user an official warning outlining the reasons behind the action. Further continued abuse may result in disconnection from the network and will be directed to the college dean for action. The college is aware that certain breaches of the 'Acceptable Use Policy' may not be deliberate and does take this into account, often helping to rectifying the situation and educate the user to prevent the situation from reoccurring. In extreme circumstances students will be directly reported to the dean for action to be taken.

Connection Charges

For the academic year 2009/2010, Residents at Homerton College are charged £60.00 per academic year for the use of an active Ethernet connection in their bedroom, this charge also includes access to the secondary wireless service available in various locations across the college. This charge is levied to help cover the costs of maintaining the network, the administration associated with activating the connection, and the technical support received from the I.T. Department in configuring and troubleshooting network connections.

Traffic Charges

The use of any computer on the network incurs network traffic. Network traffic is data flowing between computers. Homerton College is subject to a traffic-charging regime whereby the College is charged by the University for Internet traffic sent through the University network. These charges are based on current levels of traffic to/from the University of Cambridge network.

To help ensure that your internet connection is fast and reliable whenever you need it for your academic studies, we operate a Fair Use Policy and QoS (quality of service) system on ResNet. This optimises network load and evens out peaks in network activity, maintaining a consistent service. ResNet users are given a traffic allowance (quota) of 15GB per calendar month for data transferred both to and from the internet. Data transferred within the Cambridge University Data Network is not counted toward your quota (i.e. .cam.ac.uk websites)

Residents are reminded that they are responsible for all network traffic generated by their computers. Residents who generate excessive network traffic will be required to demonstrate that they are abiding by the rules otherwise they may be subject to disciplinary action and any associated charges as deemed appropriate.