BY JONATHAN LEVSKY // OCT. 5, 2016 //

We’ve all been there; sitting in your room, cramming for tomorrow’s exam or doing homework due the next day, when all of a sudden the internet disconnects, halting all your work.

For Curry students, the lack of consistent WiFi is a problem all too familiar.

The Curry College Tech Department has heard numerous complaints and are beginning to take action. Joe Bruno, the interim chief information officer of the Tech Department, comments, “We recognize that the WiFi services as they currently exist on campus require improvement.”

Bruno explains that there are currently 420 access points deployed around the campus, and due to a wide variety of reasons such as placement, interference, and building construction, the WiFi is not meeting the expectations of the students.

He continues, “Since the beginning of the semester, we have responded to a number of specific issues we’ve received from students, and we’ve been achieving positive results.”

Specifically, the Tech Center has addressed the issue whereby iPhones were unable to connect to the network as well as rewire several access points in the Residence Halls. They have also been working alongside the vendor who hosts the my.curry.edu portal to resolve connectivity issues.

Additionally, the Tech Center has contracted with an outside firm this past August to conduct wireless surveys on different parts of campus.

“We have recently received the survey findings, and we are now working with our wireless provider to create optimal findings,” says Bruno. “We will take what we learn and create a multi-year, rolling plan that will address the needs of the entire campus.”

And although these issues haven’t gone unnoticed, now five weeks into the school year without any sign of resolving the problem, students are still feeling frustrated by the lack of internet connection.

The Tech Center continues to look for a solution to the severe lack of WiFi connection on campus. // IMAGE CREDIT pixabay.com //

Max Bramble, a sophomore IT major, thinks “[The WiFi] could be better. I sometimes can’t watch a YouTube video for a class or sometimes it takes forever to load Blackboard.”

Bramble’s solution to this problem would be to have separate WiFi’s for different parts of the campus.

Chandler Carlson, a junior Business major, voiced his concerns saying, “Curry’s WiFi, to me, is not very reliable. There will be times that I’ll be on my laptop or a school computer and the network either won’t load or stay connected. Being a busy student like me, I need to make sure I get my work done, and with the internet not being reliable, it makes it harder.”

Brandy Julius, a sophomore Accounting major stated that, “As a student government member, I am aware of how slow the WiFi can be on campus. I feel that other colleges don’t run into as many problems as we do and for that reason we should be funding more money into fixing the issues Curry is facing.”

And it’s not just students’ inability to get homework done. Many students watch TV and movies through streaming providers like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, and the near-constant internet problems are frustrating.

“I don’t have much time to watch Netflix, but when I do, I’m not able to watch my shows because the WiFi is too slow,” said Abby Pieger, a senior Community Health and Wellness major.

“It has been a problem that has not only affected my free time but has also affected my studies as well,” she continues. “The portal never seems to work when I need it most.”

And with teachers assigning homework on online databases, it’s crucial for the WiFi to be as smooth as possible so that students can complete their assignments on time.

Every now and then students on campus will receive a message stating that the WiFi is down and being repaired, and will not be accessible until further notice. However, it doesn’t take long for the problems to appear once again.

The Tech Department has noticed the issues and are now responding to the issues as quickly as possible. Students can only hope a solution will be found soon, especially with midterms quickly approaching.