Recently, wireless Internet service has been installed in Colman, Brokaw, Trever and Plantz Halls. According to ITS, no additional coverage will be added this year but plans for future improvements are in place. We welcome this update and look forward to campus-wide wireless.
At the same time, we are disappointed that most of the campus continues to experience slow Internet speeds. The infrastructural modifications in Colman, Brokaw, Trever and Plantz have not increased data transfer rates in those buildings and bandwidth remains limited campus-wide.
Websites and web-based applications become more complex each year and therefore require ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth. Furthermore, the Class of 2014 includes approximately 100 additional students beyond Lawrence’s usual class size. This increase in population has undoubtedly affected our network’s performance.
Despite the evolving needs of Internet users, the university has not yet upgraded its Internet services. Since the start of the term, some students have had unstable Internet access in their rooms, and professors’ presentations in classrooms have been interrupted by load times for media files and websites. Dealing with slow Internet is generally only an inconvenience. However, on Lawrence’s campus, limited bandwidth has affected academic and artistic proceedings.
We recommend that the administration place a high priority on network speed improvements. While these improvements would be costly, we at The Lawrentian feel that they are necessary to maintain Lawrence’s dedication to academic and artistic excellence.
Staff Editorial
