Technology and Computer Services announced the installation of outdoor internet hotspots throughout the Citrus College campus.
The first WiFi hotspot was installed on August 24, a day before the fall semester began.
More internet access points are scheduled for installation around campus. most trafficked areas of the campus will be the target of these.
“We have places like the soft ball field or football stadium where they need to have access to the internet,” said Robert Hughes, Chief Information Officer. “We don’t have the ability to provide that now, so outdoor WiFi will allow classroom activities to take place outside, allow people to study, and do research outside of the buildings.”
WiFi locations include the quad adjacent to the Hayden Library, the Campus Center and the Math and Science building. The softball fields and football stadium are the most remote campus spots scheduled to receive internet service.
Hughes said WiFi coverage required more than picking a spot and placing a device.
“We had to connect them at a place where we currently had internet, so it had to be on a building with power,” Hughes said. “We couldn’t just put it on a flagpole somewhere because then we would have had to provide more cabling to it.”
Students are one of the main consumers of bandwidth on campus, but connecting to school WiFi is not as convenient as some might wish.
Manuel Zamora, a forestry major at Citrus said he hopes improved internet access allows him to do more school work outside of the classroom
“ I would like to stop getting kicked out, so I can research my stuff that I need for English or math and all that” Zamora said.
Central computing and telecommunications systems supervisor Leigh Buchwald said after a student is disconnected from school WiFi for an hour they must re-enter their user name and password to reconnect. Usernames and passwords cannot be saved on the login web page.
Campus technology workers said continuous connectivity has been a problem on campus, but hope outdoor access points keep students and faculty logged in.
“You know, hopefully it will provide a more seamless access to wireless, you know when moving from point to point or from building to building,” Buchwald said.
Hughes said the current installation project is not ongoing.
“We don’t have plans right now to expand beyond those coverage areas we have,” he said. “We’re constantly assessing where the needs are, and if we identify areas that need additional coverage we will certainly put that into our plan.”
The project cost is about $25,000. Technology and Computer Services representatives plan to have all WiFi hotspots installed by mid-September, but said the project is ahead of schedule.
