USF to expand wireless access across campus

Thanks to a grant funded by the student-paid technology fee, Information Technology (IT) will be strengthening wireless Internet access on campus this semester. 

Last semester, Melissa Thammavongsa, a freshman majoring in biomedical sciences, was eating with friends at the Bull's Den Cafe when they reminded her of the impending deadline to reserve a ticket to a USF football game. 

Excited about attending the game, Thammavongsa took out her phone to visit the USF Athletics website for a ticket, but found she was sitting in an area without wireless connection. She cut her meal short and rushed to her Beta dorm room to use the Internet.

"I can usually find a wireless connection in Andros," she said. "It's handy, but not consistent."

Thanks to a grant funded by the student-paid technology fee, Information Technology (IT) will be strengthening wireless Internet access on campus this semester. 

IT will install more access points, which strengthen Internet connectivity in areas including the Andros and Argos dorms, chemistry building, administration building, Library and Marshall Student Center. Additionally, outdoor access points will be installed in areas including the east side of Cooper Hall, the Student Services breezeway, the Varsity Tennis Courts and the College of Education courtyard.

The project cost $986,960.85, IT network engineer Joe Rogers said, and should be completed within the next three months. The project's aim is to provide "blanket wireless coverage" to areas on campus with limited access, according to the IT website. 

Access point locations were chosen based on usage statistics collected by IT and feedback received from students.

"(IT) requests feedback when students register for the USF network and one of the most common requests we get is to provide wider access," he said. "We're constantly looking at our wireless management systems to see where are the high-density areas, like the chemistry classrooms on the first floor, the two big stadium classrooms. We were looking at those areas and said, ‘OK, how many current users do we have in there?'"

Rogers said the number of wireless users in classrooms has increased nearly five times since classrooms were first equipped with wireless access. USF currently supports 11,000 wireless Internet users with over 70,000 separate devices registered on campus, Rogers said, and each semester sees an increase in 1,000 to 2,000 users.

Now, students are requesting to see access in parking garages as well.

"We get a surprising number of requests for parking garages," he said. "So we have a pilot program going right now for the (Collins Boulevard Parking Garage). We just put in a few access points there, and we're sort of monitoring utilization."

—Additional reporting by Gilda-Rae Grell