Student frustration over Wi-Fi to result in housing adjustments
Scientists and theologians have basic needs including air, food, water and shelter. In today’s society, as almost of a fundamental need, students would include another necessity — easy access to the internet.
“Technology is extremely important to me. It is something I use on a daily basis whether it is for education purposes or for my own personal use,” Whitney McCullough, sophomore in math education, said. “I don’t think technology is becoming a need, I think it already is. Everyone uses technology somehow, someway.”
McCullough is just one of the many students that live on campus. The absence of Wi-Fi in the residential buildings has been an on-going compliant from students for a couple of years now.
“I want Wi-Fi in my dorm. It’s not as convenient with an Ethernet cord, and it limits where my computer can be in the room,” Christine Mounce, sophomore in physics and computer science, said.
Michael Mills, director of housing, said the residence halls were built in such a way that installation of Wi-Fi will be difficult.
“But now, times have changed,” he said.
Still, housing officials are working on a proposal to bring Wi-Fi to the dorms and apartments on campus.
“We’re looking at a couple of proposals, but we are thinking of going to wireless only,” Mills said. “It’s much more expensive to keep both, and we think the wired Internet won’t be used as much.”
The first phase was to bring Wi-Fi into the administrative buildings. The next phase is to bring Wi-Fi into the residential buildings. Housing dept. plans to complete this phase by next fall.
“We will start the process in the next two to four weeks where we will send out a bid to companies,” Mills said. “Then, the infrastructure change will happen in the summer so it’s ready for the fall.”
Mills said he won’t know what the cost will be until after the bid, but he has an idea of how much it might be.
“We are expecting $100,000 to $200,000 a year in cost. This includes the bandwidth, support and equipment,” Mills said. “We will know more precisely of what the cost will be in May.”
According to Randy Kirkpatrick, interim chief information technology officer, the cost of Wi-Fi is different for every building, depending on the infrastructure. For example, if the building is made out of brick, it would have to be drilled through so the cable can run from the access point back to the switch in the building.
“It also depends on how many access points you need to cover a building, and how much cable and labor you need to install it,” he said.
Most of the academic and administrative buildings have Wi-Fi available; even the quadrangle and the Wellness Center has Wi-Fi. The Sundance apartments also have Wi-Fi, but only to a certain extent.
“I’ve been over in Sundance and the Wi-Fi is only usable in the common areas. You’re lucky if you get two bars in any of the rooms,” Ryan Seavers, sophomore in accounting, said.
According to Mills, when they were installing the administrative Wi-Fi in the Wellness Center across the street, some of the hotspots were placed in the Sundance apartments.
“Some Wi-Fi is accessible in the lounge area, but in most of the rooms, the Wi-Fi isn’t accessible,” Mills said.
There are some 127 wireless access points on campus, but the Information Technology Department is hoping for more.
Kirkpatrick said, “It is our hope that eventually we will have university-wide Wi-Fi.”
Many of the students on campus, like McCullough, said they enjoy having access to Wi-Fi in the buildings across campus, and are glad Wi-Fi will soon be in their living quarters.
“I do use Wi-Fi in other buildings like the library and Bolin. The Wi-Fi does work well, and it’ll be a great addition to the apartments and dorms,” McCullough said.
Part of the plan for the upgrade includes increasing the bandwidth of the connection in the residence halls. The Internet connections in the administrative network access bandwidth almost four times that of the residential network.
The size of the pipe or the “bandwidth” is the size of the passage in which the data is traveling within, and speed is the rate the data is traveling at. A larger bandwidth will allow more data to travel, which will also increase the rate at which it travels. However, that doesn’t mean the speed will be the same as the bandwidth.
“I use Wi-Fi in Dillard and Fain. I really like it. It’s not all that slow using Wi-Fi in the buildings,” Mounce said.
Kirkpatrick said the residential network is much smaller and, hence, much slower.
“The Internet is really slow in my apartment. Trying to do anything on the Internet takes forever and it can get really frustrating,” Madison Dean, junior in psychology, said. “It takes like 10 minutes to load a YouTube video.”
Because the residential Internet is so slow, some students set up wireless routers in their dorms or apartments, even though it is prohibited.
“We have students that set up wireless routers in their dorms. I don’t know why, but something about them slowly messes up the network for the entire building,” Mills said.
Students said they hope once the Wi-Fi is set up in the dorms and apartments, that the Internet speed will be faster, decreasing the number of student routers.
“I hope the Wi-Fi will be faster because we are all using routers to try to speed the Internet up, but it slows it down for those not using routers,” Brenda Pron, junior in respiratory care, said.
McCullough said she is pleased with the decision to bring Wi-Fi to the residencies on campus.
“Bringing Wi-Fi to the dorms and apartments is a great idea. Everyone will only benefit from having Wi-Fi,” McCullough said.
Mills said he understands how frustrating it is to not have Wi-Fi, which is why they are working on the proposal.
“I know it’s frustrating to [students] because its frustrating to us,” Mills said. “I’m excited. It’s going to cost more, but I think it’s something we all need.”