“The connection is fast, reliable, and secure,” said no one. Well, I take that back.
According to Dixie State University’s help desk website, the Wi-Fi is “fast, reliable, and secure.” The reality is that the Wi-Fi is the opposite. Often, I find myself waiting five to 10 minutes troubleshooting my Wi-Fi and then another five or so to connect.
I know I am not alone in my dispute with the Wi-Fi. At the beginning of class, the topic of conversation between my classmates and I is never a weekend recap. It is always about how our laptops won’t connect to the internet.
Alivia Lake, a sophomore psychology major from Durango, Colorado, said, “When I need to do work, it takes a long time to just load and I feel that it is wasting my time.”
Sarah Best, a psychology major from Murray, said she always has problems connecting to DSU’s Wi-Fi, specifically at the Jeffrey R. Holland Centennial Commons and Wellington & Margaret McDonald Center for Humanities and Social Sciences. Best also said people she knows complain about the Wi-Fi every day.
Although the internet may work better around different parts of campus, the trick is to figure out what internet works best where.
DSU provides two different VPN internets, Trailblazers and eduroam. Students and staff members are encouraged to connect to eduroam if they rotate between various educational institutions. All public educational institutions in Utah conveniently use eduroam. Students and faculty should use Trailblazer Wi-Fi around campus.
Lake said most of her classmates experience the same problems with slow internet specifically in the Edith S. Whitehead Education building.
The connection process is confusing and varies according to the Wi-Fi and device you are using. To connect to the internet you must open multiple files and downloads. Although the process isn’t very time-consuming, it is much more complicated than a simple username and password. The reason for this, in short, is for enhanced security.
On the bright side, the help desk website does offer a step-by-step walkthrough of how to connect to the internet. The IT service center is also open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
With the anticipated growth in numbers during the next school year, the question of how well the Wi-Fi can handle more devices rises. My internet has crashed mid-use multiple times which takes me back to point A.
All in all, the DSU Wi-Fi needs to be improved so all students, faculty and staff can complete their tasks in the most efficient way possible.
