California Lutheran University students have been without consistent Wi-Fi since returning to campus for the fall semester. This posed problem because technology is an essential part of a college student’s daily life.
“We replaced all the Wi-Fi equipment in all of the residence halls over the course of the summer,” Lance Grange, associate director of Information Technology Services at Cal Lutheran, said. “We had aging infrastructure in the residence halls, and we have had problems over the years with specifically Grace Hall, Trinity Hall and Mogen Hall, so we were trying different strategies to make better Wi-Fi in those locations.”
All of the equipment was replaced, yet students still had problems accessing the Wi-Fi.
Senior Chris Baldwin was even kicked out of an oline quiz due to failing Wi-Fi.
Cal Lutheran’s ITS tried to find a solution to fix the Wi-Fi.
“The problem is that there are peak times for the wireless network, so from 7 p.m. to midnight is when most of the problems are occurring, which is harder for us to see when we are normally here during the day,” Grange said.
ITS workers have been walking around the dorms, going door-to-door, testing the connections. They have been putting in overtime work so that they can be present during the peak hours.
“This year the Wi-Fi has been really spotty in all parts of Trinity Hall. Some rooms have had little to no connectivity. The Wi-Fi has been most notably bad while using my phone, and it has caused me to use more data on my phone plan,” Andy Queen, senior and resident assistant in Trinity Hall, said in an email interview. “I have noticed the IT[S] guys working hard in Trinity Hall. I appreciate the hard work being done to fix the issue.”
ITS is in the process of changing the type of access points in Trinity, Grace and Mogen. These new access points are more traditional in style, and supposedly have been much more stable.
“Before we had 69 access points in Trinity, Mogen and Grace, and now we have 147 access points, so it is over 200 percent increase. The reason for this is to get to the latest wireless technologies,” Grange said.
According to Grange, the improvements were made to ensure that the latest wireless standards were met. The latest wireless standards can provide a ten times faster wireless connection than the older standards but required more access points to deliver the same signal as the older technology.
They also were able to get faster streaming needed to download online content.
“When it is working, it is working very fast, but obviously there is issues with the stability, and that is why we have been working with the vendor,” Grange said.
According to Grange, they need some help. When you have a technical problem, email the help desk at [email protected] or call (805) 493-3698.
Once ITS can fix that issue it allows them to respond directly to that student to make sure that the problem is fixed and working fine.
Makenna Pellerin
Staff Writer