WSU’s University Village residents continue to struggle with slow and inconsistent wireless access, and several students have taken their complaints to resident assistants, student senators and housing management.
“My roommate has to restart her computer every time she gets on the Wi-Fi,” said freshman Tynoa Carter. She added that sometimes the wireless internet drops every couple of hours.
University Village, an apartment-style dorm located across the street from the Dee Events Center, houses more than 450 students. Students reported problems with the wireless internet last year.
Over the summer, housing and IT worked on upgrades to the service including new wireless access points in each building. Even after the upgrades the students still report slow speeds and inconsistent connection.
Daniel Kilcrease, director of Housing and Resident Life, said they have been working with the IT department to solve the problem.
“We want our students to have good wireless connection to get their schoolwork and their entertainment time in,” Kilcrease said. “We are working to that end.”
While the problem may be worse in some areas of University Village as opposed to others, Kilcrease said they are trying to treat the problem as if the whole complex is affected.
Luke Jenkins, WSU network engineer, said they’re investigating the root cause of the reported issues. Jenkins added that in the last few years there has been an explosion in the amount of Wi-Fi-capable devices students bring on campus.
Jenkins and Kilcrease said the problem appears to be limited to University Village.
“Staying ahead of the demand curve is a ongoing challenge for wireless engineers everywhere,” Jenkins said. “Weber State is no exception.”
Jenkins said they are still in the final adjustments from the upgrades this summer and the housing department is trying to investigative other possible sources of contention and interference. It is his hope that better experiences can be provided for students in University Village.
He added that until they are able to find the root cause, they will be unable to give a hard timeline on resolution of these issues.
Kilcrease encourages students who have devices that can be wired to use an Ethernet cord and connect to the wired network.
Anastasia Austin, student senator for the residence halls, said she met with representatives from housing and was told they expected the problem to fixed by the end of this week. Senate has been working on this since students came to Austin about the issue.
Senate President Jeff Henry said the senate is closely monitoring the situation, adding that if it’s not fixed by the end of this week, he will step in and try and work out a tentative plan to have it fixed.
“These students are attending school and paying for dorm residency and they’re not getting the Wi-Fi they were promised,” Henry said.
