Wireless connection problems remain
Dash Wasserman
Issue date: 9/16/09 Section: News
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As the academic year begins and the workload for students begins to pick up, many have had difficulty getting work done due to "significant performance problems" with the College's wireless network.
Director of Information Technology Services (ITS), Raymond Phillips, sent out an e-mail to the College community describing the situation: "The usual symptom is inconsistent performance, good at times, poor at others, which may cause web page loading or software downloads to fail." This message confirmed what most students had already come to suspect or experience.
Even before most students returned to the Hill, the College faced technical difficulties with its wireless network: COOT2 Leaders, Community Advisors and students workers, all of whom arrived to campus early, noticed that they could not hold a sustained connection with the College's wireless network.
COOT2 Leader, Jenifer Goldman '12 was one of many who were not sure if the problems were on an individual basis or on a larger scale. "I thought my computer wasn't working properly until I started talking to other people on campus. Then I realized that it was something everybody was experiencing," Goldman said.
Goldman, like other students, thought that no wireless meant that the entire system was down and that there was no Internet access. Some students figured out that you could still get access if you used an Ethernet cable. Anna Leavitt '12, a student worker in the College Bookstore noticed a spike in the sale of Ethernet cables. "All through orientation we couldn't keep enough cables on the shelves because everyone uses the Internet on a daily basis."
Leavitt also noted that first-years were a little confused by the lack of wireless services, which, in turn, spurred many questions for her fellow staff at the bookstore. Though the wireless infrastructure of the campus was down, the fundamental hardware of wires, computer chips and switches still allowed Internet access as long as one was physically connected to the network.
On the subject of first-year confusion, Goldman said, "Some of the first-years on my COOT2 had no idea that this poor performance was not typical for Colby's wireless services. It's interesting that the administration put so much effort into giving the freshmen a 'comprehensive' view of life at the College during orientation, and yet something so integral to our lives here wasn't addressed until a week after the freshmen had already arrived."
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