OPINION: USC needs to solve connectivity issues

For the past few months, USC students have had issues connecting to USC Wi-Fi networks. Complaints of being unable to submit assignments on time and lagging videos filled halls, classrooms and Facebook chats. Eventually, on March 29, Chief Information Officer Douglas Shook sent every student an email addressing and explaining the recent wireless performance issues. While it is understandable that some issues are out of the University’s control — outside vendors and unforeseen circumstances in weather and hardware both affect the reliability of our Wi-Fi — USC should consider emergency alternatives to provide wireless connection. Institutions of higher education have an obligation to their students to provide a reliable, strong internet connection.

Though Wi-Fi complaints may be brushed off by the older generation as a characteristic of the internet-obsessed, gadget-savvy millennial generation, Wi-Fi is a staple that students cannot function without. According Inside Higher Ed, students come to college with an average of eight or nine wireless devices, compared to the two to three in previous decades. Professors are diverging from printed material in favor of the eco-friendly and ink-saving alternative of online assignments.

USC’s Information Technology Services department is currently working on improving the wireless connection situation, but this process will take a few years before reaching completion. In the meantime, the University has no clear short-term solutions for improvement. The transformational program is called Secure|Connected through which ITS “will rearchitect USC’s network and information security infrastructure to provide faculty, students, researchers and staff with a high-performing network with greater reliability and security protections.” It is anticipated to be complete in 2019, upgrading buildings one at a time, and at times thought to be the least disruptive to occupants.

Aside from eduroam, USC provides two points of connection — “USC Guest Wireless” and “USC Secure Wireless.” However, both run at about the same speed, despite one being only used by USC students and faculty. Guests to the University use the same bandwidth as some of our student population, and though the secure wireless exists to ensure students and staff have network priority, there is not much difference between the two wireless networks.

USC should consider the solution Elon University has adopted — the utilization of one Wi-Fi connection for larger amounts of data streaming, like video games or video streaming. The other can be for milder network usage, such as emailing or document sharing. This ensures that the network is not slowed by less important tasks. The difficulty in this solution is regulating usage — it is unlikely that gamers or viewers will adhere to one network, especially if it is heavily slowed by all the users on the same network.

As ITS works on transforming our wireless connection, there are still instances of network slowdown or blackouts that USC has no short-term solutions for. One would be for students to use the cellular data on their personal devices to upload projects and read materials online. But not everyone has a data plan with this capacity. A more reasonable solution would be for USC to provide a temporary network for when the campus-wide connection is not working. At times, the access points go down in a singular building, and having a backup access point — a hotspot or mobile Wi-Fi — to turn on just for that building would be helpful for students. While USC may not have the infrastructure for an entirely new campus-wide network in cases of emergencies, the University does have capability to provide emergency Wi-Fi access.

Network reconstruction is an expensive project, and for larger universities, the costs can run up into the millions. However, USC’s campus is relatively small — 226 acres of coverage — with most access points located within buildings. This is a project USC can afford and should prioritize. Students are struggling to perform basic tasks necessary to their academic success, and some do not have the mobile data on their cell phone plans to use in place of a stable Wi-Fi connection.

Though USC is working to improve its network connectivity, there are still far too many instances of poor connection. The University is implementing a solution for the long term, but overlooks short-term issues. Students should not have to use up their personal cellular data plans for school-related projects and assignments. At the very least, USC should look to instate a few emergency short-term solutions.