I used to be the telecom rep on the Inter-Residence Council, and I can tell you that the actual numerical speed of the connection (as in, in MBps) went up pretty much every year to the point where normal browsing speeds became a non-issue. Traffic shaping was brought in around that time to de-prioritize file-sharing programs (the original Napster, anyone? Flashbacks to first year...) and later, torrents. The result of this, as Danny mentioned, is slow speeds on them. But, trust me, if this wasn't done, all 'net connections would be absolutely crippled - before the shaping was in effect, browsing was sometimes painfully slow.
There is a saving grace, though - there is an internal file-sharing network accessible only to those in residence that uses DC++. This allows you to share your music and movie collections with others at Mac and download them incredibly fast - 3-5 seconds for songs and 5 minutes or so for movies is fairly typical. So don't worry about getting your daily media fix - in fact, make sure you bring a big hard drive :p
As for wireless, it's not installed in the actual living areas of the residences, but it sometimes spills over from other public spaces or study rooms and is therefore accessible. A full list of the coverage areas is here:
http://www.mcmaster.ca/uts/network/w...lscoverage.htm
The residence locations (from that list) are as follows:
- Brandon Hall - Basement Study Area
- Edwards Hall - Basement Common Area
- Hedden Hall - Meeting Room B107
- Les Prince Residence - Study Areas (All floors)
- Mary Keyes Residence -1st Floor Lobby & Meeting Room 210
- Woodstock Hall - Room 122 & B101/E
So, not too bad overall, but I imagine they will continue to expand coverage on campus. And, as others have mentioned, you can always bring your own wireless router and put it in your room if you want to (especially handy in the apartment-style buildings!). All the rooms have a wired ethernet jack that it could plug into, and I know the living rooms in Keyes do, too.
Not hard to set it up yourself.
