Since students’ return to campus, many have noticed and reported issues with the University of Connecticut’s Wi-Fi. “UCONN-SECURE,” the network intended for UConn students, has caused many issues for students, ranging from poor service while connected to devices not being able to connect at all.
Claire Lawrence, a third-semester data analysis major, spoke about the issues that students have been having with the Wi-Fi.
“I initially noticed I was having trouble connecting to the Wi-Fi when I moved in. At first, I thought it was just a personal technology issue, until classes started, when I noticed many others were having problems connecting and staying on the Wi-Fi,” Lawrence said. “Sometimes it would kick us off, other times the network would fully lose internet, among other issues.”
According to Lawrence this has caused issues in some of her classes, especially given that her major is data analysis.
“Most of my work is through online programs, such as Python or ArcGIS, which I need internet to work with. This previous Wednesday, my entire intro to GIS lab could not do our lab work because we couldn’t get internet. The professor had to extend the deadline and have us complete the work at home, which was frustrating,” Lawrence said.
Although UConn Information Technology Services is looking into the issue, the cause of these problems is still unknown. Michael Mundrane, the vice president for information technology and chief information officer, talked about the connectivity issues in an email.
“The issues are caused by an intermittent problem with infrastructure inside the UConn data center. This location holds the highest performing infrastructure at the institution. Many services traverse elements of this facility and are impacted whenever the 5-10 minute interruption occurs,” Mundrane said. “This infrastructure is highly complex and the root cause of the problem has not yet been identified.”
UConn ITS is currently “aggressively exploring the issue in concert with our key vendors,” but Mundrane was unable to give a timeline on when the situation would be resolved, saying “this issue will be resolved as soon as possible,” when asked.
Many students have resorted to using the “UCONN-GUEST” network or other networks around campus to try to get their work done, but students say that those networks have their own drawbacks. Lawrence talked about her experience with using these networks.
“I tried the UCONN-GUEST network for a bit, but I noticed that sometimes that Wi-Fi also has problems. I am also wary of using a guest network long term. In desperate situations I have had to use my phones service as a hotspot, which occasionally works to send an email or turn in a PDF, but is far too slow to actually do work,” Lawrence said.
Mundrane advised against using the UCONN-GUEST network in his email.
“The interruptions to login services, which impact many other services, are not long lived. We do not encourage people to drop UCONN-SECURE and move to UCONN-GUEST, for example, because there are substantial benefits to the former,” Mundrane said. “If time is of the essence, then UCONN-GUEST is an option. If a few minutes will not unduly burden your activity, then it is probably better to wait to connect.”
Mundrane did not give any suggestions to students who weren’t able to connect to UCONN-SECURE at all.
At the end of his email, Mundrane apologized on behalf of UConn ITS, saying, “ITS apologizes for these periodic service outages and the associated disruptions that they create. We are currently pursuing, and will continue to pursue, any and every correction option available to us.”