Whether Ohio University had an entirely wireless campus was the No. 1 question asked at Precollege last year. Up until now, the answer was no.
Within two years, that will change. Director of Communication Network Services Tom Reid said all of Ohio University, including its branch campuses, will provide an environment where users with laptops or other Web-browsing electronic devices will not need to plug into a connection port to operate.
Several wireless areas already exist on the Athens' campus in places such as Stocker Center, Alden Library and College Green, but Reid said all residence halls, academic buildings and outdoor spaces will eventually be wireless as well.
Carlos Chung, a junior computer science major, comes to Alden Library every day to use his laptop with the wireless network. It's more convenient
said Chung, but added a completely wireless campus would benefit him.
I'd like to be able to go up to Court Street and use my laptop there said Matt Williams, a junior aviation flight and management major who uses Alden Library's wireless signal for his laptop three or four times a week.
We are seeing an increasing orientation toward mobility among the students moving from cell phones to mobile computing devices
Reid said.
Wireless usage on campus has risen from a little under 500 individual wireless users in December 2003 to more than 2,000 in February of 2004, Reid said.
Despite having only partial campus coverage
we have seen a significant jump in utilization.
Students living in residence halls no longer will have to connect their laptops directly into an Ethernet cable. Reid said just about any device that has a Web browser can access the wireless network through access points, small devices with connected to antennas that broadcast radio waves in a large radius.
I like the idea of sitting outside on a park bench and using my laptop
said Yong Liu, a graduate electrical engineering major. Liu currently only uses the wireless service within Stocker Center and Alden.
Indoors, these access points cover an area of 300 feet and can reach much further outdoors, Reid said.
When signing in using these access points, students will be asked for their OAK username and password in order to maintain security, Reid said. CNS will still be able to monitor each individual computer on the system so that if a virus were to be detected, the wireless device could be shut down.
Part of next year's technology fee will fund the wireless network, including installation and support. The $800,000 covered by the fee amounts to less than $15 a student each quarter.
CNS is also anticipating a rise in the popularity of Mobile Core devices - a single device used for e-mail, Web, voice, instant messaging and general computing, Reid said. Mobile cores are on the market, but they are very expensive.
We expect [the price of mobile core units] to change dramatically within the next two or three years
Reid said, adding that he wanted the wireless services to provide for mobile cores as well.
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