Scott BresslerNetwork Technology Services implemented a software update early this morning to fix the latest wireless connectivity issue for students on the Danforth campus.
The most recent problem surrounding the wireless connection on campus arose from the wireless cards in many individuals’ laptops.
“People would disconnect, and then the system would not recognize their connection so they had to reboot to connect,” said Scott Ladewig, manager of networking and operations for the Olin School of Business.
The software update this morning should have fixed the connectivity problems many students are still experiencing.
“Rebooting access should be fixed, and other schools with the same problem have indicated that [the software update] would work,” said Ladewig.
Wireless problems on campus come after continued connectivity issues for student throughout the campus. Freshman Rachel Teune has been frustrated with her connection on the South 40, so she tried to use the wireless connection yesterday for Internet access.
“When I’m on the South 40 it really sucks … my [AOL Instant Messenger] is slow and my e-mail is usually slow. Normally when I come [to main campus] it’s usually working, but I was let down,” said Teune. “I just can’t get any wireless connection. It says my computer isn’t even hooked up to [the wireless service] and I can’t even get a wireless list.”
The Washington University wireless network started experiencing problems early last week. Initially, students could not access off-campus sites from the campus wireless network. Later on in the week, users were routinely dropped from the server.
“All the access points kept rebooting, which dropped the connection,” said Ladewig. “When access points were rebooting, it was everyone. People would report that everyone in the room lost their connection at the same time.”
The new software update will require students to set up their wireless connections again. The new system is more complex than its predecessor, and Ladewig expects some students to have difficulties.
“There’s the transition problem,” said Ladewig. “People have to learn how to log in to the new system. There’s a few more steps to take, but it’s a far superior system.”
Many other schools have had similar problems with their wireless networks and individual network cards. This made the process of finding the fix significantly easier for Network Technology Services, as they could quickly pull from other schools’ knowledge about what needed to be implemented.
Ladewig noted that though much of the explanation went to students in the business school, wireless issues appeared throughout the Danforth campus.
“We’ve got the most users, so people may have noticed it here first,” said Ladewig. “Things seem to be better now.”