Many students on campus wonder why their WiFi connection sometimes lacks the power that it is supposed to have.
The Informational Technology Service is making sure that they understand the problems that occur with Augustana’s internet connection.
“We want the students to come to us with their problems,” Wendy Ramsdale, the ITS training and support specialist said.
“A lot of the time we don’t know that there are problems with the internet on campus,” she said.
ITS has put new ways of communicating with students in place with the hopes that it will ultimately help improve the internet connection within the campus.
“All of the Community Advisors are supposed to contact 5 people every two weeks.” Ramsdale said. “They are then supposed to take a survey. If the student is dissatisfied with the connection, we contact them and try to figure out what the problem is.”
ITS is also taking great strides with they are doing behind the scenes.
“We do speed testing on the network every day,” Ramsdale said.
This allows ITS to see how fast the internet is allowing students to access different sites.
Many students have had issues accessing the internet quickly, and with little issue.
According to the Augustana website, in order to connect to the wifi, students must have their devices on wireless connection. Then students must locate a WiFi hotspot. This hotspot will provide access to the school’s network. One hotspot can hold up to 50 devices. Students can access these devices from 100 feet away.
Sophomore Laura Hedden feels that the internet connection could be better.
“It’s sort of a hit or miss. Some days it’s good, and some days its bade,” Hedden said.
Hedden has noticed that the WiFi has been getting better.
“I have definitely seen an improvement in the WiFi,” Hedden said. “It seems a lot more accessible since fall term.”
ITS will continue to move towards a dependable connection, but they really need the students to communicate with them.
“We don’t know when the students are having a problelm,” Ramsdale said. “We need them to come to us because we can most likely fix it.”