Courtesy of siliconangle.com
I can’t write this article because I can’t get online.
My rivalry with UR Connected began on August 28, 2012, when I tried to set up my wireless printer. Like most typical college freshmen, I came to school with my own printer because I wanted to save money. Little did I know, that I would encounter so many issues with my “money saving” printer because of our fun Internet provider at UR. After struggling for five hours trying to set up my printer, I learned that our school’s Wi-Fi actually doesn’t allow for wireless printers because of security issues. What I don’t understand is that we go to one of the top research institutions in the country, and yet we can’t hook up our printers to the Wi-Fi? It really doesn’t make any sense to me.
My struggle with UR Connected didn’t stop there. Countless times I have found myself being dropped from the Internet and unable to connect for hours on end. What really gets to me with our Internet is that it says you are connected, but the Internet won’t load. At first I thought maybe it was an issue specific to my computer, and that maybe I should switch to a different browser. After trying Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox, I concluded that it definitely wasn’t a local problem with my system; rather, it had to be the campus Wi-Fi. After speaking with many students, I gathered that the Wi-Fi is spotty in several areas throughout campus, even between very close academic buildings and in parts of residential housing as well.
Even when my computer is connected to the Wi-Fi, I have noticed that it always takes forever to load. Searching for a simple question on Google can turn into a 20-minute process because the Wi-Fi is so slow here. What we need is an intervention with our school’s Wi-Fi provider. Something needs to be done as quickly as possible, especially since so many people rely on our school’s Internet.
Wi-Fi here is especially important, especially since UR relies so heavily on the Internet. I know that for most of my classes my assignments are on BlackBoard and I have to submit most of them on the site. If the Wi-Fi is down, then I literally have no way to check my assignments because I can’t get on blackboard. In a recent survey, nearly 75% of the students who took part in a recent poll said Wi-Fi access on their college campuses helps them get better grades.
A few weeks ago, the Campus Times featured a news article on the Wi-Fi at Riverview because so many students were having issues with the Internet there. While it is important to note that the Wi-Fi at Riverview isn’t great, the Wi-Fi on the River Campus is spotty and slow as well.
I think UR students have the expectation, especially since we go to a research institution, that the Wi-Fi should be fast — not spotty and slow. While I’m sure IT knows that the Wi-Fi is slow, something should actually be done to fix this problem. If IT is working on making the Internet at UR faster, then they should communicate to students that they are working on the problem. Until this problem is fixed, other students and I will continue to complain about how we aren’t connected.
Teitelman is a member of the class of 2016.
