Campus internet to speed up

University internet provider ResNet has increased its bandwidth from 1GB to 10GB with further improvements to come.

Many students have experienced persistent problems with poor internet connection speed and prolonged streaming time. Most people who reside in halls say that the magnitude of the problem varies depending on what time the internet is being used.

Guneet Kahai, a first-year Maths student claimed that streaming is “good during the early hours of the morning but in the evenings – it’s really frustrating”. Although students generally agree that internet connection speed needs to be improved, some have not noticed any problems.

Some residents of halls argue that this problem disrupts their daily lifestyle. Karishma Gupta, first-year History of Art student stated: “In the evenings, I have to go to the library if I want to work”.

For many students, quick internet access is essential to their studies. Zoe Templeman-Young, first-year Theatre and Performance Studies student often needs to use YouTube to watch dance routines. “Clips download very slowly which is very annoying when I am trying to study,” she said.

Furthermore, Janey Larcombe, a first-year History of Art student said: “My internet would not work when I was supposed to do some online reading. In the library it is better, but there are a limited number of computers and it is not always the best working environment”.

Others believe that it does not affect their studying, but mention that numerous students use their computers or laptops as a substitute for a television, and see the internet as a form of escapism from work. One anonymous student stated: “I tried to watch something online for relaxation purposes, but the website literally wouldn’t work”.

These difficulties with the internet have remained constant throughout the last few years and Julie Woon, third-year English student recalls similar problems in her first year, stating that: “the biggest problem was attempting to stream live content, especially in the evenings”.

Daniel Stevens, President of the Students’ Union has approached IT Services about the issue. They have repeatedly told him that they will upgrade the system. Stevens insists that he will be “incredibly disappointed if it is not fixed during [his] presidency”.

Due to the new Bluebell accommodation currently in construction, the University will have another 500 student rooms to provide internet access for next year. However, measures have already been taken to improve the situation. Peter Dunn, Head of Communications at the University Press Office reassures that they “have brought forward an improvement in the
residential networks connection to the rest of the internet” and “at the end January it moved from a one GB to ten GB connection”.

The University also intend to implement a permanent software solution across halls. The aim of this installation is to balance out internet use in order to prevent one user gaining exclusive access. Dunn stated that although “there is a temporary software solution in place to do that at the moment, a better long term solution will be put in place”. This change is due to be set up by the end of this month, when Dunn claims that: “Students should then see the full fruits of these improvements”.