The Collegian

Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Andrew Dodson AT&T technician Joel Helmer investigate Hillsdale's server system in the Information Technology Services office Wednesday afternoon.

An "open" or broken fiber optic circuit between Hillsdale College and Spring Arbor, Mich., caused all campus Internet to shut down Wednesday for nearly 10 hours. Campus computers only allowed students to access Hillsdale e-mail accounts.

AT&T employees identified the problem mid-afternoon and dispatched technicians to find the problematic fiber optic cable, buried along M-99.

After investigating the college's circuit system, AT&T technician Joel Helmer determined the problem was a break in the line.

"The circuit takes a path on a fiber optic cable from here to Lansing," he said Wednesday afternoon.

Originally, Helmer thought the break was between Hillsdale and Jonesville, but an e-mail from David Zenz, executive director of Information Technology Services, sent at 4:42 p.m., stated that technicians extended their search further north towards Spring Arbor.

At approximately 6:30 p.m., Internet service became available.

Zenz said the problem was difficult to diagnose due to the complexity of behind-the-scenes processes that must take place in order to have Internet access.

"I call it the 'David Copperfield effect,'" he said. "There's a whole host of engineering and equipment that need to be designed and put together to make things work. That complexity is often hidden. It takes a lot to pull the illusion off."

Zenz said he was alerted to the problem this morning when he received an alert from Merit Network, a company that links computer networks between universities.

AT&T provides a data circuit that Merit then distributes to the college.

Many students expressed frustration over not being able to use the Internet all day, like freshman Natalie Barry.

Barry, who lives off campus, e-mailed a resident assistant application to herself and was unable to open or print it when she needed to turn it in.

Both Barry and sophomore Anna Bird said they check their e-mail frequently throughout the day.

"It wasn't a huge inconvenience but I know it was for my friends with research to do," Bird said.

Bird said she heard students blaming the problem on the administration.

"Everybody's immediate reaction was that the college was censoring anything that wasn't Hillsdale e-mail," she said.

Some students were unaware of the problem until they heard it was resolved.

"I had no idea it wasn't working," sophomore Sam Bender said. "My computer was broken so I didn't bother to check."

Bender said the Internet worked early this morning, before 8 a.m.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools