Note: This page is for students living off-campus in non-MIT housing. Students living in a Fraternity, Sorority, or Independent Living Group should click on the "Computing at FSILGs" link to the left. Also, please note Residential Computing provides no support for any methods described on this page, nor do we endorse any providers. The Computing Helpdesk can provide limited support for members of the MIT Community using third party ISPs, but it is limited to getting MIT applications working, and no guarantee of support is provided.
Students who live off-campus, but not in an Independent Living Group, will not receive a direct connection to MITNet. However, there are numerous options. For your convenience, we have listed them here. However, with the exception of the Tether service, MIT does not endorse or support any of these options. You may wish to read the report on High Speed Access to the MIT Community at http://web.mit.edu/ist/topics/network/highspeed.html.
These notes are provided as a convenience and are mostly from individual experiences. No judgement about any provider is expressed or implied. These notes do not represent the view of I/S or MIT.
Many of these services have online applets that allow you to input your address and see if service is available in your area. Frequently, these applets return incorrect information. If the applet tells you there's no service in your area, but you believe there is, you should call the company directly and speak to a representative.
These providers have different policies regarding port blocking, running servers for non-commerical use, multiple computers, NAT/routers, WiFi, etc. Check with each provider on this.
Other providers too numerous to list here. Some larger providers include:
While you can use any internet connection you wish to connect to MIT, the only supported option is the MIT Tether service. Tether is a PPP service which allows you to connect to MITnet with your computer over a phone-line. Tether requires a modem, and a speed of 14.4kbps or higher is recommended.
To get more information about Tether and pricing or to sign-up for service, follow this link to the Tether page at MIT. The Service Detail tab includes hardware and software requirements.