The Wifi Reboot

Internet woes that have plagued students for years will be a thing of the past as a complete overhaul of the Southern University Baton Rouge’s internet and wireless access is finally underway.
With many students and faculty now depending on the use of programs, like Moodle and e-mail, to do assignments or stay in touch with their professors, a robust and healthy wireless network has become almost necessary to students in this day and age.
According to statistics compiled by the online statistic congregating website, Statista, millenials account for more thatn70 percent of internet usage, a bulk of which includes streaming music, TV, and movies through mobile devices.
Chief Technology Officer Dr. Gabriel Fagbeyiro, says that the upcoming upgrades to the University’s wireless structure will result in an 800 percent increase in the wireless speeds students are currently using.
“This is going to be a significant improvement to what we have” said Fagbeyiro “Technology has changed; the campus hasn’t kept up with it and that is what we’re trying to address”.
Fagbeyiro explained that the new Wi-Fi backbone being implemented would have redundancies built in so that issues like spotty internet, slow speeds, and little to no connections will be a thing of the past.
“Right now if the power in Moore Hall goes out the the whole campus will be without internet services” said Fagbeyiro “what we’re building now will ensure that students can always stay connected”
In addition to improving the internet’s speed, Fagbeyiro also added that an additional 250 access points will be added around campus.
This should come as welcoming news to sophomore speech pathology major, Keyana Williams, who said that she now has to go the the library because internet access in her dorm is so unreliable.
“Everybody has assignments to do and when the internet goes out on us how are we supposed to do our work?” said Williams “In Reed, we have weak Wi-Fi that constantly goes out and it makes us mad”.
Chancellor and President Dr. Ray Belton, who is spearheading the effort to address these student concerns, says that the new improvements are one of the most important things the administration can do for students.
“For us to be able to reach the lofty goals that we have in mind to include, establishing a more viable and robust online delivery system for instruction, we need the type of infrastructure that will advance those goals,” finished Belton.
With the price of the improvements exceeding more than one million dollars in equipment and labor, Belton says that Southern budgets should always reflect student concerns.
“Our budgets reflect our priorities” said Belton “Although that’s a big number we really thought that enhancing our (wireless) infrastructure had to be a big priority for our campus”.
Senior mass communications major and Houston native, Alexandra Trigg, thinks that the money used to make these improvements was a good investment from the university on behalf of its students.
“We pay money to go to this school so things pertaining to the campus should be running properly for students.” said Trigg. “Students utilize the campus either the library of electronics to the Wi-Fi has to be up and running so if it has or go to that, that’s number one”.
Although a definitive date has yet to be set for the full implementation of SU’s new Wi-Fi backbone, Belton is hopeful that it will be up and running this Fall.