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Hillsdale students should be able to complete discussion posts without CampusNet crashing mid-sentence.
Last semester, as I wrote a term paper in Hill House, CampusNet went out more than two dozen times, some of the outages lasting more than 30 minutes. I wasn’t alone: I heard similar stories from my fellow students who also deal with outages, particularly in the dorms where many people are connected at once. This far-too-common issue is worth the college’s attention and budget.
According to Information Technology Services, CampusNet has 862 wireless access points across campus, each of which can handle about 50 devices on them at a time. If an access point exceeds that capacity, Wi-Fi becomes more spotty. This means students and faculty are more likely to experience poor connection in the more populated areas of campus, such as AJ’s or the dorms.
Most students and professors have multiple devices connected to Wi-Fi at any given time. Devices like TVs and cameras also connect to Wi-Fi, which makes the problem more severe than a few personal devices. Even when devices are turned off, they still slow down the Wi-Fi and make it less likely that other devices will stay connected.
It may seem like a minor concern, but students find it harder to complete their work when Wi-Fi is sporadic. This can become a major setback during midterms and finals, especially when most students have assignments that can only be completed with access to the internet.
The solution is simple: Add more access points in each building. According to ITS, more were added when iPhone usage between classes became the norm. There is precedent for improvements in the past, and the college should add access points now to keep up with the growing role of technology in schoolwork and day-to-day life.
Students can also help make this happen. According to ITS, if they continue to get Help Desk tickets in a specific area, ITS will work to improve the Wi-Fi in that area. Sometimes they simply raise the antenna strength of an existing access point, or plan to add new ones in a future budget.
ITS noted that Greek houses are expected to pay for running cables and access points themselves, meaning the Wi-Fi in those areas depends on how much each house was willing to pay at the time of installation.
There may be additional updates to improve Wi-Fi performance and support more devices, but this necessary fix can address a common complaint on campus.
Skye Graham is a junior studying history.
