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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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UB Wi-Fi encounters problems at start of semester

Slow network speeds frustrate students

<p>UB’s Wi-Fi has been unusually slow during the first few days of the semester, frustrating students trying to access the internet.</p>

UB’s Wi-Fi has been unusually slow during the first few days of the semester, frustrating students trying to access the internet.

It’s advertised on cars, walkways and doors: UB’s Wi-Fi boost, promising lightning fast connection anytime and anywhere on campus. But when students returned to campus Monday, many were frustrated when they couldn’t connect to the Wi-Fi.

In the dorms, academic buildings and walkways in between, students experienced technical difficulties for the first half of the week. Students were especially disappointed because UBIT’s Wi-Fi boost project, advertising the school’s fastest internet to date, wrapped up last year.

The university is partnered with Aruba Networks, offering approximately 6,600 access points for students across its three campuses, according to J. Brice Bible, UBIT vice president and chief information officer.

Bible said the network problems students experienced throughout the week are currently being resolved and hopes connectivity will be back to normal by next week.

“The current network has been in place for a year and a half, so this is the second fall semester of its operation. The current problems haven’t been experienced prior, so UBIT has been unable to pinpoint the source of the problem,” Bible said in an email. “UBIT is working directly with the wireless manufacturer and the manufacturer’s engineers are [on site working with us and they feel progress is already being made towards a resolution].”

From 2015 to 2017, UBIT improved Wi-Fi across all three campuses after more than 20 percent of students complained about poor internet access on campus. The university responded by installing eduroam, the globally accepted network that will eventually replace UB Secure, which UBIT plans to retire in 2019.

UBIT faculty could not provide the total cost of the two-year project.

UBIT’s 2017-18 expenditures totaled $8.9 million, shared between its many facets, including web-based student services like Blackboard, in-person IT help centers and Wi-Fi. Full time students pay a technology fee of $406 per semester, 45 percent of which funds UBIT, meaning roughly $183 per person goes toward its services.

Jeff Landberg, a junior computer science major and network technician at the Computing Center, said the Wi-Fi issues will most likely lessen in the coming week. The surge in internet use sparked by the start of the semester overwhelmed UB’s networking infrastructure, according to Landberg.

“Essentially, you have a few thousand [internet] users over the summer, then it gets flooded during welcome back weekend and the first week of the semester,” Landberg said. “That’s a lot of stress and our network can handle it, but you’ll have dead areas and connection issues for a short period.”

Students understand why network issues occurred, but were unhappy they couldn’t access the internet.

Asher Lieber, a senior computer science major, said he couldn’t access the internet at all on Monday and is still experiencing a sub-par connection. He said UB’s network should be able to handle its large student body returning to campus.

“This is UB’s biggest freshman class to date, I think it’s a little ridiculous that the university is adding this many new students without beefing up our Wi-Fi,” Lieber said. “I have some sympathy for the IT guys, but this week has been frustrating. It’s really made it challenging to get online and access my email or schoolwork.”

Stephanie Richter, a senior linguistics major, said the poor Wi-Fi connection throughout campus prevented her from printing materials necessary for her classes.

“One of the main things I use the computers on campus for is printing all of my syllabi and course documents so I can be prepared for class,” Richter said. “You need Wi-Fi for that, so it was a little bit frustrating.”

Richter said she’s used to poor Wi-Fi signals the first few days of classes, but is confused why it’s still happening after the university’s network upgrade.

“I know UB probably spent a lot of money on their boost project, so I feel like I should at least be guaranteed connectivity and faster Wi-Fi,” Richter said. “I understand there’s a lot of students who are all probably bogging down the system, but UB is a smart institution, they should have expected this from years past and planned ahead.”

According to a UBIT update from Wednesday at 4 p.m., “UB Wi-Fi networks remain available but intermittent across all UB campuses. University wireless engineers continue to investigate the root cause and instituted several changes to mitigate the problem.”

Max Kalnitz is the senior news editor and can be reached at max.kalnitz@ubspectrum.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Max_Kalnitz

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