Wireless in dorms unlikely to appear until at least 2010
Cody Ewers
Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Your News
Dormitories will likely not receive wireless Internet access until fall 2010 at the earliest, said Patrick Chartrand, Network Systems Manager for Information Technology Services. Since the equipment will cost more than $900 per hallway, ITS plans to wait until it upgrades the college's entire network.
"Whenever opportunity, financing and timing is right we're there ready to take the next step," ITS Executive Director David Zenz said.
Zenz said the administration asked ITS not to take on any new projects this year or next year, for budgetary reasons. But Vice President of Administration Rich Péwé said they haven't forgotten about it.
"It's definitely something on the wish list," Péwé said. "We have to plan for things that are going to go wrong and make sure we have money for them."
Chartrand said it's a tougher and more costly job than it seems. ITS will have to pay for access points, labor, service and other expenses. Each access point costs $450, and every hallway needs at least two.
Zenz said ITS plans to move away from the Ethernet connection that currently runs throughout campus residences, when it has the funds. His department and the administration have agreed that when they make this upgrade, they will also add wireless access.
Chartrand said it's possible for students in campus residences to pool funds and purchase the service and equipment through ITS.
"Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority pooled their money together and went through me to purchase wireless Internet for their house," he said. "It could happen with dorms, but someone has to pay and it must go through us."
He said that problems could occur, however, if students purchased a router separate from ITS: If one of them did something questionable, an organization like the FBI could show up looking for the culprit.
Having only one IP address for an unknown amount of users creates a lot of unanswered questions and holds the college, and the individual registered for purchasing the router, accountable for something they could've protected against if they would've adhered to the college's security protocol, Chartrand said.
Zenz said the individual access points compete with the college's IP address and if they aren't managed properly they provide a backdoor to Hillsdale's network allowing "other folk who aren't necessarily associated with the college or its mission" in.
Zenz said he was able to piggyback Ethernet installation, which provides the current Internet access, on top of original plans to equip each of campus' residence rooms with telephones back when they were first wired.
He considered wireless access instead of Ethernet, but decided against it for security and technological reasons.
"Back then it wasn't practical to install wireless Internet connectivity," Zenz said. "But now the technology has moved way beyond the problems it had in the past. There's also exists a need today to be portable; more so than when we looked at it years ago."
"Whenever opportunity, financing and timing is right we're there ready to take the next step," ITS Executive Director David Zenz said.
Zenz said the administration asked ITS not to take on any new projects this year or next year, for budgetary reasons. But Vice President of Administration Rich Péwé said they haven't forgotten about it.
"It's definitely something on the wish list," Péwé said. "We have to plan for things that are going to go wrong and make sure we have money for them."
Chartrand said it's a tougher and more costly job than it seems. ITS will have to pay for access points, labor, service and other expenses. Each access point costs $450, and every hallway needs at least two.
Zenz said ITS plans to move away from the Ethernet connection that currently runs throughout campus residences, when it has the funds. His department and the administration have agreed that when they make this upgrade, they will also add wireless access.
Chartrand said it's possible for students in campus residences to pool funds and purchase the service and equipment through ITS.
"Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority pooled their money together and went through me to purchase wireless Internet for their house," he said. "It could happen with dorms, but someone has to pay and it must go through us."
He said that problems could occur, however, if students purchased a router separate from ITS: If one of them did something questionable, an organization like the FBI could show up looking for the culprit.
Having only one IP address for an unknown amount of users creates a lot of unanswered questions and holds the college, and the individual registered for purchasing the router, accountable for something they could've protected against if they would've adhered to the college's security protocol, Chartrand said.
Zenz said the individual access points compete with the college's IP address and if they aren't managed properly they provide a backdoor to Hillsdale's network allowing "other folk who aren't necessarily associated with the college or its mission" in.
Zenz said he was able to piggyback Ethernet installation, which provides the current Internet access, on top of original plans to equip each of campus' residence rooms with telephones back when they were first wired.
He considered wireless access instead of Ethernet, but decided against it for security and technological reasons.
"Back then it wasn't practical to install wireless Internet connectivity," Zenz said. "But now the technology has moved way beyond the problems it had in the past. There's also exists a need today to be portable; more so than when we looked at it years ago."
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Vern's Wireless Internet Providers
posted 3/23/09 @ 3:16 PM EST
Up until very recently, I was quite in favor of most network installations still taking the form of Ethernet, for security and speed reasons. It's clear now that the technological bottlenecks that plagued the widely available wireless access points have been surpassed. (Continued…)
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