Ole Miss Wireless

The University of Mississippi wireless network has been a frustrating topic for students since it first began roughly three years ago. Students complain of problems with major websites such as Facebook, ESPN, and Twitter, as well website used for school, like Blackboard and My Spanish Lab, just to name a few. According to a map posted on the Information Technology (IT) website, Ole Miss wireless internet is not even offered in several buildings on campus, such as Bondurant Hall, Bishop Hall, Shoemaker Hall, Hume Hall, and Coulter Hall. There is not even wireless available in the Circle.

“Overall the wireless internet at Ole Miss isn't that good.” Michael Curvey, a junior exercise science major, said. “There are weak spots on campus everywhere and some buildings don't even have wireless. Coulter doesn't even have Ole Miss Wireless. It has its own generic router.”

Of all of the complaints about Ole Miss wireless, most of them seem to deal with the quality and consistency of the internet in housing around campus.

“I live in Campus Walk, and the internet here is very shoddy.” Curvey said. “Sometimes it will be fine, but that's only during the middle of the day when no one is here and late at night past midnight when most people are starting to go to bed. It could definitely be a lot better. There are many times here at Campus Walk when I get no service at all. Just the other night, in the middle of submitting homework, the internet went out and my work was lost and I had to re-do it all. I think with the influx in students this year, the servers can't handle the increase in traffic over previous years. I can't wait to see how good the internet will be next year with the even bigger incoming freshman class.”

A poor connection does not just affect students when it comes to school. In the case of Suzanne O’Donnell, a junior education major, who is studying abroad here at Ole Miss from Stranmills University College in Belfast, Ireland, it can determine whether or not she can stay in contact with her friends and family from back home.

““I've been very unimpressed by Ole Miss Wireless Network.” O’Donnell said. “It's really annoying not having reliable internet connections as it means I have no way of keeping in contact with my friends and family. For a lot of the international students, this is their first time away from home and not being able to communicate with family can make homesickness much worse. My parents get worried when they send me emails and I'm unable to reply, and my mobile phone doesn't work in this country.”

While many attribute the problem to the mass amount of people in a single area using the internet at the same time, other universities don’t seem to have that problem.

Kristin Johnson, a senior secondary education major at the University of Alabama, doesn’t experience problems with her on-campus internet.

“I never have a problem connecting, and staying connected, to the internet.” Johnson said. “Our professors never experience problems during class. The only time that I experience problems is during finals, when everyone is using it.”

Carson Hurt, senior accounting major at Auburn University, agrees with Johnson.

“My on-campus wireless internet generally works pretty well.” Hurt said. “The internet is very rarely down, my professors don't ever have problems connecting to websites in class, and I also never experience any problems with the speed of major websites.”

Other schools such as South Alabama, Mississippi State, Memphis, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Georgia, just to name a few, where students all agree.

Even Cyndie Robinson, a student at BYU-Idaho, says that her on-campus internet is “excellent” and “fast”.

Ole Miss wireless recently began using Cisco Systems, Inc. and it’s equipment to run the on-campus wireless.  And with it came the Cisco NAC Agent, one of the biggest complaints amongst students. With NAC you have to sign in every time you access on-campus internet. Students like Curvey and O’Donnell sometimes can’t even get onto the internet because the NAC login will time out, and not log them in. NAC also keeps students from being able to connect online with their gaming systems, like Xbox Live.

Robin Miller, Director of Technical Services, does not believe that the on-campus wireless is that bad.

“The general feedback I get concerning the usability and availability of wireless service for on campus use is positive.” Miller said. “Our goal is to deliver a quality service to this campus. As such it is very important that users report their problems with very specific details.

Items such as the device they are using, the operating system they are running, where they are located, what they are trying to do, whether it is stream video, play games, view pictures, exchange text, etc., what application they are using, Facebook, email, etc., where are they trying to get to on campus wireless or off campus, and of course what kind of issue they seem to be having, such as they can't connect to wireless, connect to wireless but can't connect to a site, connect to wireless and connect to a site but no response, connect to wireless and connect to site but site is slow, etc.

There are many layers and components to a network system. These are quite diverse and vary widely across a large enterprise network such as ours. Even more complex are the workings of the Internet once you leave the control of our campus wireless network.”

Miller encourages students to let administrators know if they believe there are problems with the on-campus internet.

“For some time we have enlisted the help of select students across campus who agreed to provide us with specific information related to their experience using wireless. We are very interested in hearing from all users and need their detailed input.” Miller said.

Robinson, a junior zoology major, believes that no university should have this kind of problem.

“A university has a duty to provide its students with functioning internet capabilities, especially if they are going to use internet testing and other internet resources as essential parts of the courses. To offer anything less is a huge mistake on their part.”