The Office of Information Technology installed new equipment that was suppose to handle the 17,000 new devices on campus. The hardware failed to work, prompting OIT to put the originally equiptment back.
The Office of Information Technology’s solution to the university-wide Wi-Fi issues failed, sending the department back to the drawing board.
While some students were sleeping early Sunday morning, the office shut down the Wi-Fi between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. to install new equipment that was supposed to handle this year's surge of devices on campus — 17,000 more than this time last year.
“We’re gonna be working around the clock until it’s fixed,” Sean O’Malley, the spokesman for OIT, said.
The new equipment came from Juniper, an IT company that is working closely with OIT, O’Malley said. OIT was able to obtain the new equipment on loan to help the network get back up quickly.
According to an email from OIT to students Sunday, the equipment did not perform as the vendor said it would. The department removed the newly installed hardware and returned the network to its previous setup.
“(Juniper) is working very closely with us,” O’Malley said. “We appreciate (its) help.”
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The email did not include a new solution or a time frame for when the Wi-Fi problem would be fixed.
The problem began the first day of classes, affecting students and professors on campus.
Michaela Bryan, a sophomore studying studio art, transferred to Ohio University from Cleveland State this year. Bryan turns in her notes for a critical perspective class that counts as attendance in the class. Due to the faulty internet connection, she wasn't able to.
"I hope it works soon," Bryan said.
Ben Bowald, a freshman in the Management Information Systems program, hasn't had issues studying because of the Wi-Fi.
"It's effected my recreation use like gaming," Bowald said.
Bowald uses the Wi-Fi for watching videos, playing video games and downloading while winding down after a day of classes.
OIT will continue to work on the connection problems until it's solved.
“This is very challenging work to do quickly,” O’Malley said. “We’re basically doing brain surgery on our network.”
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