Last spring, during a campus wide assessment the topic of better more efficient Internet was repeatedly mentioned. The University’s Board of Regents approved the “expansion of Washburn’s Internet capability in May of 2010.” The change included increasing the transmission capacity from 60 Mbps to 1,000.

“[The change was needed  as the school had peaked at] 150 Mbps when school just started,” said Elliot Haugen, Director of Information Systems and Services (ISS).

Haugen explained that the new system has improved the megabits available for students. Before, the system had 10 megabytes available per student and it now has 100.  

Students noticed the improvement in the ease and effectiveness of computer use on campus.

“[The internet connection] reaches Morgan [Hall] a lot better than it used to,” said Tim Mitchell, senior.

Haugen admitted this was a much-needed addition to the university.

“Today is the age of the World Wide web, a speedy link [at Washburn University] important,” said Haugen. “[The new system] has better speed and performance.”

But as of late, students, mainly in the Memorial Union, have experienced difficulty with Internet connectivity. When someone is trying to use the Internet, any problem they are having generally doesn’t mean there is a problem with the Internet circuit. It usually means it is the wireless connector who is having an issue connecting.

Bob Stroller, assistant Director of ISS said that generally, the problem is caused when someone trying to use the Internet accidently either plugs it into an outlet or has a program turned on that they don’t realize is causing problems for others to connect to the Internet.

There recently was a problem in the Living Learning Center with connecting wirelessly, but Stroller assured it was temporary.

“This had nothing to do with Internet service, it was just a local problem within that one building and all the rest of the buildings and everything else on campus was running great,” said Stroller. “Like any problem it can take an hour or two or whatever to really figure it out.

Knowing that so many students use the Internet, Stroller knows the problem must be fixed promptly.

“Also we have to work with the house staff because these are residence halls, these are people’s homes,” he said. “We need to respect that as well. We want students to report problems and we try to resolve them as quickly as possible.”

If the problem persists, in order for the university to take care of any problems with the wireless connections, they must be informed of the problem. When students experience a problem connecting to the Internet they should contact ISS  main desk at (785) 670-3000 to report the problem. Once a problem is reported, ISS then is able to work on finding a solution.