That is really shady. Unless you live in a rent controlled apartment I’d be curious if they even have legal recourse if you used another provider unless there was damage to the apartment.

You could probably force the complex to let you use whatever provider you wanted as long as the infrastructure (conduits in the ground etc) is there and it probably is. But I would likely be a very annoying fight.

More than likely they are getting a kickback from the ISP to inform users that they are the only option.

We have a (kind of) similar situation here. Our complex has these devices installed by the local electric company that turns our water heater on and off on some randomized schedule that is claimed to be based off of our usage and the local time. We were never told about this device and it’s not in our contract. On top of that, the property management group gets a kickback for every one that is installed in a unit.

We don’t have the most stable schedules (random schedules, night shift, day shift, etc) so of course the device couldn’t figure it’s shit out and was just shutting our water heater off at different times. I had to call the power company to have them disable it.

There has been a history of corporate things like this happening where providers do shady shit, kinda like gangs having their own territory and “agreements” not to sell dope in each other’s area to keep their profits stable and not mess with each other or whatever other reasoning it may be.

My point is, there is more than likely some shady business practices going on between the ISPs and the property management.

Why does your apartment management have a say in it?

If there are other providers in the area then you likely already have lines running to your place and shouldn’t need their sign off on it.

Similar SF story, down at Fisherman’s Wharf, during COVID, two people on the sidewalk just getting it on lol.

If it’s based off of Debian 12 then it’s the old version of SteamOS.