Daemen Residents Are Dealing with Wi-Fi Connectivity Concerns

By: Aaliyah Abraham

Since arriving on campus for the Fall 2018 semester many students living in the dorms have been unable to connect to the Resident Hall Wi-Fi service.

Due to the miscommunication of where students should be sending their concerns in regards to connectivity problems with the Wi-Fi. Some students have felt their complaints have gone unheard.

“I went to Smart Squad and explained what was going on, they gave me a sheet of paper with instructions that didn’t work so I have to use my personal hotspot to be able to do work in my room,” says Telena Smith, a sophomore here on campus.

Marc Doull, Network administrator, makes it clear that the problem is a lot more complicated than previously supposed. Daemen College apartments run with 2 different Wi-Fi frequencies one at 2.4 gigahertz and another at 5 gigahertz, with multiple channels.

The channel selection however is minimal. The plurality of devices being connected to one channel is the biggest cause of the campuses connection complications. This is especially true considering there can be 24,000 devices on dc-ResHall Wi-Fi at one time.

In the average dorm room, a student can have up to at least 6 devices. This often includes but is not limited to a video game system, phone, laptop, tablet, and television.

Doull plans on implementing a configuration change which may or may not help with the connection moving from one access point to another. Doull hopes to test this out during the campus Thanksgiving break. This timing would give him a chance to check the reaction without so many devices being supported by the system. One of Doull’s concerns during this time is to be on the lookout for when the student body returns.

Upon returning to campus from Thanksgiving Break, if students are still experiencing Wi-Fi connectivity problems they need to reach out to their Resident Assistants. This would include Director of Housing and Residence Life Daniel Weaver and the Smart Squad (located in RIC 101).

Weaver comments “I want the students to know what to do, not just complain. Are they talking to their RAs? Are they informing Campus Safety? Are they emailing me?”

Weaver given her position is integral to the process of addressing residents’ concerns. Informing her starts the process of fixing a problem. Weaver notes that being ‘proactive’ is the solution she calls for.

“Your problems want to get fixed, but you need to speak up so action can be taken”, Weaver reiterates.

Taylor Stursa, a Canavan Resident Assistant, wrote in an email that stated a number of her residents are complaining about a variation of Wi-Fi problems. Her first instinct was to inform Campus Safety.

“I let them know what the issue was, and they told me they would work to resolve it shortly,” Stursa wrote in an email.

Doull also recommended some students to connect to the internet via an ethernet port. There are ports located in student’s individual rooms and lounge areas. He explains that there is a connection point in all the individual apartments and in the common areas, and that taking advantage of these points could boost speeds by up to 85%. Furthermore, students can buy their own for an inexpensive price at Amazon or Best Buy.

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