Department of Campus Technology plans to improve Wi-Fi

Have you been having difficulty logging in to Parkland's Wi-Fi connection from your laptop, smartphone or other device? When you do get on, is your connection slow? Do you have trouble downloading or streaming video? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you are not alone.

A great many people here at the college, both faculty and students alike, seem to be having the same problems.

Recently, the Department of Campus Technology sent out an email, asking students to complete a survey. "The rapid growth of Wireless devices (laptops, tablets, smart phones) has placed a strain on the Wi-Fi network at Parkland and we are evaluating the options to take to improve the service," the email said. It also included an email address for students with more questions. Buster was just such a student, so he decided to go right to the source and email Doug Brooks, Associate Director of

Network Support Services for the Department of Campus Technology. Brooks was happy to meet and discuss the state of Parkland College's current Wi-Fi situation.

According to Brooks, the Wi-Fi system is, in fact, having difficulties. He explained that these problems have arisen due to two factors. The first factor is that the bandwidth at Parkland is currently limited to 100 Mbs.

"In computer networks, bandwidth is often used as a synonym for data transfer rate - the amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period (usually a second). This kind of bandwidth is usually expressed in bits (of data) per second (bps). Occasionally, it's expressed as bytes per second (Bps). A modem that works at 57,600 bps has twice the bandwidth of a modem that works at 28,800 bps. In general, a link with a high bandwidth is one that may be able to carry enough information to sustain the succession of images in a video presentation," according to http://searchenterprisewan.com

A hundred megabits per second may seem like a lot until you realize that this rate is about five times that of an average Comcast internet subscriber's home bandwidth. When you consider the number of people sharing this data access, it becomes clear that this is insufficient. Fortunately, Brooks states that the college in currently in the process of increasing this amount by a factor of fifty percent. He says that the college has already increased the bandwidth by 50 Mbs this year, and in the next two to three weeks, will do so again, raising the total bandwidth to 150 Mbs. This should improve the slow download times and alleviate difficulty streaming video on the network.

The second factor, according to Brooks, is the number of Wi-Fi access points available on campus. To explain what an access point is, one type is the wireless router you may use at home. It's simply the device which enables other devices to connect to a network and access information on the internet. If you have a smartphone, you're probably familiar with access points. With all of the students at the college who use laptops, tablet computers, smartphones and other devices, the number of access points in the school is just not enough. The more devices connect to an access point, the less bandwidth each device receives, slowing the connection, or even dropping it in some cases. Brooks says that the good news for Parkland students is that the college is currently in the process of accepting vendor proposals for an increase in the number of wireless access points. The department will use the results from the recent survey to determine how best to best allocate the devices to address the areas of greatest need. How quickly this occurs depends on a number of factors such as the prices of the vendors bids and the amount of assets which the college board is able to make available for the upgrade.

In explaining the current situation, the difficulties currently faced by the Department of Campus Technology, and the steps they are taking to correct it, Brooks said, "The amount of devices being used to connect to the Wi-Fi network has increased at a rate which we weren't prepared for. Both the Department of Campus Technology and Parkland College do see this as a huge priority, and we are actively working to resolve the issue."

The good news is that the increase in bandwidth in the next several weeks will show some improvement over the network, and once the number of access points is increased, we'll see even better results.