Surging enrollment at higher education institutions coupled with increased mobile use is taxing the Wi-Fi systems of major universities.
The result is frustrated students, who view Wi-Fi access as vital to their existence as food, water and a place to lay their heads at night.
“Our life cannot be without Wi-Fi,” said Amy Zhang, a linguistics major at the University of Oregon. “We need Wi-Fi any time, anywhere. We need to connect Wi-Fi to check our schedule, check the (electronic) blackboard, check the homework. It’s a necessary thing in our life.”
University officials are struggling to keep up with the exponentially expanding demand. At the University of Oregon, where Zhang attends classes, the demand for Wi-Fi started to outstrip the bandwidth back in 2011. Now it’s common for students to experience problems connecting to the campus Wi-Fi, resulting in a great deal of frustration on both ends.
The University of Oregon is spending $660,000 this year to improve the institution’s Wi-Fi stability, which will help students maintain their connections, said Patrick Chinn, spokesman for UO Information Services. Other issues, including coverage and capacity, are still waiting for solutions and the funding they will require.
At the University of Oregon, student enrollment has increased by 40% since 2000. Additionally, those students arriving on campus bring a lot more Wi-Fi enabled devices, from smartphones to tablets to laptop computers to game consoles.
The University of Oregon does have coverage in nearly every building on campus, with 1,439 Internet access points. However, the system’s capacity is limited, which causes the issues such as the slow, unreliable or unavailable Wi-Fi service experienced by students like Zhang.
Frustration also results from students’ expectations, as many are used to easy and relatively fast Wi-Fi connections at their parents’ homes or the coffee shop down the street. Explaining the complications of the university system to them isn’t easy.
The issues arise from more people using more wireless devices in a relatively small place, Chinn explained. University of Oregon’s Wi-Fi system is being accessed by 10,000 devices a day, which compromises the system’s bandwidth.
The result is a “device explosion,” according to EDUCAUSE, the Colorado-based association representing higher education CIOs. It comes as no surprise that bandwidth congestion is the number one problem that information technology officials face on campuses across the country, according to the organization’s annual survey.
The demands on the system vary, typically spiking at the beginning of fall, winter and spring terms. Plus there’s usually another bump after the Christmas holidays as students return and connect their new electronic gadgets.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson