Although installed over the summer, the residential wireless network has not yet gone live for student use because of continued testing and the implementation of a new network access control system.
“We’ve had a lot of projects going on this summer and the first priority is to make sure that the wired network is up and running so that students get the connectivity they need,” said Jan Weller, assistant vice chancellor for Network Technology Services. “Now we’re working at bringing up the wireless network a few buildings at a time.”
The components of the new network are being brought online in stages in order to help troubleshoot any potential problems.
Specifically, the wireless network will be turned on building-by-building. After the wireless network has been completely activated, the registration system for Internet will be implemented and students will be billed.
“It’s less important to have the bills going out than to have the service up,” said Weller.
Weller stressed that this method of bringing the network online is especially important because of the complexity of the system; there are over 800 access points in the new residential network.
For students beginning their work in the first few days of class, the absence of the network has caused some problems.
“I don’t feel like I should have to get up in the middle of the night and go to Bear’s Den to use wireless,” said freshman Blake McKisick. “I shouldn’t have to go to a public place.”
Other students looked forward to the start of the wireless network so that they could work more closely with their dorm-mates.
“If I go to a friend’s room to do homework and they’re both plugged in, I can’t use [the Internet],” said freshman Nick Abramson. “It’s not a big problem yet, but it could become inconvenient later in the year.”
Despite the frustration over wireless Internet, there have been few complaints to Student Technology Services regarding Internet services. Weller attributes this to the larger bandwidth available for each student this year, a change that results in faster average connection speeds.
The new network access control system, called the Bradford Campus Manager, will allow students to register their computers for wireless Internet access using the unique MAC address that is embedded in every wireless device.
Additionally, once the new system is completely functional, it will be able to provide students with extra protection against viruses by requiring them to have up-to-date virus software before using the network.
“There may be some pain associated with [the process] at first,” said Matt Arthur, director of enterprise networks. “But we want to make sure that when students are on the network, they are as safe as possible.”