2008 Woodie Awards
Wireless Internet up and running
More than 1,800 using connection from 8-11 p.m.
By: Dillon Thorne
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
All residence halls now have fully operational wireless Internet as part of Central Michigan University's three-phase plan to bring it to all of campus.
Mark McDonald, director of networks, said the residence halls were the primary concentration for the first phase of bringing wireless Internet to campus.
"We felt like the biggest demand for wireless was in the residence halls," he said.
That premonition has proved to be true.
The use of wireless Internet has skyrocketed since being installed.
"About a third of students are using the wireless in the resident halls," Ryan Laus, associate manger of network services for Information Technology, said.
Laus said the number of students using wireless from 8 to 11 p.m. ranges from 1,800 to 1,900 users.
McDonald said the next phase of wireless will be to finish academic and administrative buildings, which will take longer than the residence halls.
"Academic buildings have a time schedule," he said. "We have a limited window to work in the buildings with classes."
So far, Anspach Hall is the only academic building on campus that is completely wireless. Other buildings, such as the Bovee University Center and the Music Building, are nearly done.
Laus said the second phase should be completed by the next academic year.
"We churn through a building every couple of weeks," he said.
Some older buildings like Warriner and Sloan halls will take longer because they were not designed to support Ethernet or wireless Internet.
Laus said if there is a heavy demand for wireless in a common spot, they will concentrate on that spot in the building first.
The final phase will concentrate on getting Internet in the courtyards and the outdoors on campus, Laus said. Officials hope to have all three phases completed between the summer of 2008 or before the 2009 academic year.
But despite the gains in wireless, there has been one complaint.
"We did recently discover a problem with the Nintendo Wii," said Jeff McDowell, Information Technology help desk manager.
Nintendo Wii uses wireless for its Internet connection to play and download online.
"There is something with a way the Wii's network cards work, they just don't work in an enterprise infrastructure like ours," McDowell said.
McDowell said he contacted the vendor and they admitted that there is a problem, and Nintendo said there is nothing they can do about it. McDowell suggested students buy an adapter for the Wii to plug in a wire connection.
Officials said there is a chance of being disconnected when using wireless.
"We stress if you're doing more critical work - use a stable connection," Laus said. "For example taking a test on Blackboard, we stress you do it with your wire connection."
news@cm-life.com
Mark McDonald, director of networks, said the residence halls were the primary concentration for the first phase of bringing wireless Internet to campus.
"We felt like the biggest demand for wireless was in the residence halls," he said.
That premonition has proved to be true.
The use of wireless Internet has skyrocketed since being installed.
"About a third of students are using the wireless in the resident halls," Ryan Laus, associate manger of network services for Information Technology, said.
Laus said the number of students using wireless from 8 to 11 p.m. ranges from 1,800 to 1,900 users.
McDonald said the next phase of wireless will be to finish academic and administrative buildings, which will take longer than the residence halls.
"Academic buildings have a time schedule," he said. "We have a limited window to work in the buildings with classes."
So far, Anspach Hall is the only academic building on campus that is completely wireless. Other buildings, such as the Bovee University Center and the Music Building, are nearly done.
Laus said the second phase should be completed by the next academic year.
"We churn through a building every couple of weeks," he said.
Some older buildings like Warriner and Sloan halls will take longer because they were not designed to support Ethernet or wireless Internet.
Laus said if there is a heavy demand for wireless in a common spot, they will concentrate on that spot in the building first.
The final phase will concentrate on getting Internet in the courtyards and the outdoors on campus, Laus said. Officials hope to have all three phases completed between the summer of 2008 or before the 2009 academic year.
But despite the gains in wireless, there has been one complaint.
"We did recently discover a problem with the Nintendo Wii," said Jeff McDowell, Information Technology help desk manager.
Nintendo Wii uses wireless for its Internet connection to play and download online.
"There is something with a way the Wii's network cards work, they just don't work in an enterprise infrastructure like ours," McDowell said.
McDowell said he contacted the vendor and they admitted that there is a problem, and Nintendo said there is nothing they can do about it. McDowell suggested students buy an adapter for the Wii to plug in a wire connection.
Officials said there is a chance of being disconnected when using wireless.
"We stress if you're doing more critical work - use a stable connection," Laus said. "For example taking a test on Blackboard, we stress you do it with your wire connection."
news@cm-life.com
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