With the introduction of Eduroam in Fall 2017, the University of Guam’s wireless internet speed has greatly improved, but it is still restrained by outdated network infrastructures and limited access points here on campus. Still, I’m glad they decided to work with a great internet provider. You can get all the details about them at www.EATEL.com/residential/internet/.
In December, the Networks Operation Center (NOC) were updating access points in the CLASS Lecture Hall, and the first and second floor lecture hall classrooms in the Science Building. Having the latest system, each access point can connect 70 to 80 devices at a time – compared to other access points that can only hold up to 40 devices.
“There are buildings here on campus that are running on an old network infrastructure,” said Eugene Adanzo, a junior information security analyst at UOG.
The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) buildings – Fine Arts, English and Communications, and the Humanities and Social Sciences – have the come of the oldest network infrastructures on campus.
“Even if we put new access points, if the cables are old, it doesn’t help,” Adanzo explained.
Rommel Hidalgo, UOG’s Chief Information Officer mentions how he and his team are creating a list to help formulate what classrooms need the most attention.
“I’ve been sending out people on my team to the schools and colleges and their techs to help figure out what are the priority rooms,” Hidalgo says.
Randy Dahilig, an IT at UOG’s Network Operation Center, describes how he communicates with various departments and in the university to figure out how to budget and ways to improve the network system.
“We try to help out with the resources that we have,” Dahilig says, “it’s up to the departments and deans to help with the upgrades.”
One of the discussed future plans for NOC is to add more access points to cover blind spots around campus and to broaden coverage to areas in UOG’s parking lots.
According to UOG’s 2017 Campus Climate Survey Report, a survey conducted in April 2017 prior to the implementation of Eduroam – about 57 percent of UOG citizens were satisfied with the wi-fi on campus. This meaning that the remaining 43 percent were neutral or unsatisfied with the wi-fi.
Students this semester also seem to share mixed feelings when it comes to their experiences with the wi-fi and Eduroam. While some students seem to have no problems with their internet connectivity, there are others are still adjusting to the new system. We’ll have to see what happens in the next few days. We may have to use the internet service providers near me option once again.
Reliability is one of the concerns students have with UOG’s wi-fi, especially for those taking online classes and Moodle heavy courses.
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Lynette Yutuc, a senior majoring in Biology, seemed to have a few problems with connecting to Eduroam and UOG-Guest, another wi-fi network available on campus.
“There are times where my laptop disconnects from Eduroam and connects to UOG-Guest,” Yutuc explains, “there are days when it’s okay, but it can be a bother, so I end up using my personal data.”
Dahilig also expresses that if student’s have problems with the wi-fi to let the computer center know.
“We try our best to help, but if no one says anything, how can we fix the issue?” Dahilig states.
Hidalgo also mentions that student opinion is also helpful in order to find out places around campus that can be used to find out which areas on campus to focus on.
For more information on Eduroam you can visit the computer center or their website at https://eduroam.uog.edu/.
For more information regarding technical issues or to voice your concerns towards your wi-fi problems, please contact the IT department at (671) 735-2640.