Broadband in student accommodation

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At a glance

• Letting hall rooms outside term time can make users “members of the public” under the Janet connection policy.
• Their traffic must go to a public ISP, or be authenticated and tunnelled across Janet to one.
• Jisc’s guidance (seen only in summary) says universities may connect their own halls; third-party-run halls need a Jisc licence.
• We found no Ofcom, OfS or government speed standard for student rooms.

Halls you run yourself

Jisc’s guidance on connecting student accommodation, in summary, says a university with a primary Janet connection may connect its own halls to the campus network. That is “a normal use of Janet” needing no further licence, as long as the Janet terms and policies are followed. The connection is for “permitted users” — students, staff and visiting researchers — not the public.

Out-of-term lettings and conferences

The Janet connection policy gives “the letting of rooms in student halls of residence outside term time” and conference hire for unrelated events as examples of users who could count as members of the public. Their traffic must either:

• go to a public ISP; or
• be authenticated, tunnelled (encrypted) across Janet to the public ISP, and identified as coming from that ISP.

You and the public ISP — not Jisc — are responsible for meeting the regulatory duties that come with public internet access.

Halls run by a third party

According to the same Jisc guidance (again seen only in summary), where a third party runs accommodation and wants a Janet connection, the provider applies to Jisc for a licence, each university housing students there sends a confirmation letter, and a charge applies.

Speeds and standards

We found no Ofcom, Office for Students or government guidance specific to broadband in purpose-built student accommodation, and no official speed standard for student rooms. Companies that say they provide student accommodation broadband are in our supplier directory — what they say about speeds is their own claim.

Students travelling by train? Our sister site has a guide to the 16-25 Railcard.

Questions people ask

Can we put student halls on Janet?

A university can generally connect its own halls to its campus network for students. But if rooms are let to members of the public — for example outside term time — that traffic must go to a public internet provider, not over Janet. Third-party-run halls need a licence from Jisc (this last point comes from a Jisc page we could only see in summary).

Sources

Checked 25 October 2026. We wrote this guide from these sources, in our own words:

1. Jisc: Janet Network connection policy (jisc.ac.uk)
2. Jisc community: Janet eligibility policy guidance (seen in summary only) (community.jisc.ac.uk)

Broadband for Education is an independent guide. It is not a broker or a supplier, and it is not owned by, or connected to, Jisc, any network provider, framework or government body. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.