When you really need something, it’s nowhere to be found. That is the situation with wireless internet access on campus. In some of the lecture rooms and hallways, you can’t find internet even if your life depended on it. Thus, EM tried to figure out if there are plans to establish universal wi-fi access and ease the life of internet addicts.
Students have taken to making up jokes about being ‘disconnected’ in hallways and certain building floors. However, the fact that the newer lecture halls have no internet make them wonder if it is done on purpose, to keep students focused on the lecturer. Leon Laureij, a lecturer who gives weekly lectures in the V building, says that even if disabling wi-fi were a measure to prevent distraction, it doesn’t seem to be adequate. He insists that “wi-fi should be universally available, as soon as possible, on and off campus. Computing is a fact of our time and I would prefer that students would take an active role in dealing with challenge of internet-induced distraction”.
Quality over quantity
Indeed, sometimes students wish they had access to wireless internet, but they also mention the quality of the connection. Hannah Sütfeld, a Communication and Media student, feels like it would be beneficial to have wi-fi everwhere on campus, yet she would “rather have an even better connection at those points wi-fi is already available than a not satisfying connection all over campus”.
Universal wi-fi access
Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The objective of the BV2013 project “Wireless Campus Woudestein” is to equip all areas used by EUR with wireless access. According to the Erasmus press office, the ICT faculty receives hardly any complaints about the lack of wi-fi, but they are speeding up efforts to increase the number of hot spots. “Since there is more demand for WLAN coverage by the increasing use mobile devices, there will be a substantial scaling up of current wireless infrastructure, modernization of existing facilities, and overall improvement in availability by 2013”. MD