If somebody explicitly asks whether they will be charged and they state that they will not, then they cannot place a charge on the card. This is fraud and will reflect very badly on Netpliance when I post this notice on PRnewswire/Businesswire. Good business practices are ultimately rewarded while these sleazy attempts to screw a few extra bucks out of customers will almost always be punished.
Personally, I doubt that these kids were given the option of paying the $24/semester. The university admits that they would wire all dorms and presumably charge everybody $24/semester more if they could afford to run the cable. Really, would you rather pay $48/year or buy 300 feet of Cat. 5 cable and perform a service for your school by offering your time (let's say $20/hr.) to run a drop to your dorm. If you do not offer all students the opportunity to access the Ethernet connection, then they are creating a priviledged class of people with faster access. Sure, not everybody NEEDS an ethernet connection to study, but then people do not need laptops or even computers (You have to pencil C++ code for the AP CS exam)--however, it is a luxury that should be available to all who want it. Speaking as somebody who has applications out to seven universities, I made sure that every dorm at each of the schools was wired with Ethernet. I may create an online blacklist of all schools that do not offer adequate Ethernet connections so that students can make informed decisions and force schools like OSU to make Ethernet connections a priority to remain competitive.
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If somebody explicitly asks whether they will be charged and they state that they will not, then they cannot place a charge on the card. This is fraud and will reflect very badly on Netpliance when I post this notice on PRnewswire/Businesswire. Good business practices are ultimately rewarded while these sleazy attempts to screw a few extra bucks out of customers will almost always be punished.
Personally, I doubt that these kids were given the option of paying the $24/semester. The university admits that they would wire all dorms and presumably charge everybody $24/semester more if they could afford to run the cable. Really, would you rather pay $48/year or buy 300 feet of Cat. 5 cable and perform a service for your school by offering your time (let's say $20/hr.) to run a drop to your dorm. If you do not offer all students the opportunity to access the Ethernet connection, then they are creating a priviledged class of people with faster access. Sure, not everybody NEEDS an ethernet connection to study, but then people do not need laptops or even computers (You have to pencil C++ code for the AP CS exam)--however, it is a luxury that should be available to all who want it. Speaking as somebody who has applications out to seven universities, I made sure that every dorm at each of the schools was wired with Ethernet. I may create an online blacklist of all schools that do not offer adequate Ethernet connections so that students can make informed decisions and force schools like OSU to make Ethernet connections a priority to remain competitive.