ITS upgrade issues affect connectivity

Students were unable to connect to the USC wireless network as early as 8 a.m. until approximately 5 p.m. Monday because of technical issues during an upgrade.

Kevin Durkin, ITS director of communications and marketing, said the upgrade was made in response to an expected increase of USC wireless during the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend.

“We were increasing the capacity of the USC wireless network in anticipation of the additional number of people we expect this weekend for the L.A. Times Festival of Books,” Durkin said. “During the upgrade, we encountered technical issues which have been resolved [as of 5:00 p.m.]. The wireless network is back up, but slow. We anticipate the technical issues to be fully resolved after the hour.”

By 6 p.m., most areas around campus returned to full wireless support.

The “USC wireless plus” network, which was rolled out in the last year, work throughout the day. Durkin said students should use the wireless plus network because the network is encrypted, making it safer to use.

“We encourage all USC account holders to use wireless plus because it’s an encrypted network,” Durkin said.

Students can find out how to use the wireless plus network by going to the USC ITS website here. Generally, Mac users (Snow Leopard or higher) and iPad users can use their Wi-Fi and log into the system with their student username and password. Those running Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows XP must download a connection plug-in from software.usc.edu and then adjust their wireless settings.

“Only USC account holders can use wireless plus,” Durkin said. “It’s faster, it’s encrypted and it’s available only to USC account holders.”

Nethika Ariyasinghe, a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering, said that she was unable to access one of her online course books to do schoolwork because of the connectivity issues.

“I tried checking my email and it didn’t work, then I couldn’t open my book,” Ariyasinghe said. “I restarted and restarted my computer like a million times, and finally the internet came on after quite some time.”