Wi-Fi and network infrastructure problems have persisted this fall semester at Pierce College, but senior staff have not said exactly how the issues will be fixed.
Complaints by both students and staff about the campus’ network reliability are not new, and have been the focus of past Pierce College Council and Academic Senate meetings. However, though construction and upgrades have begun, the installation of fiber optic cables was supposed to occur in May according to a Technology Committee meeting in February.
“[The Wi-Fi] is a little shoddy to be honest,” said second-year Pierce student Melo Lumas. “Especially here in the Arts Department or you would think at night when there aren’t as many students around there would be better connections, but that wasn’t the case.”
Lumas also had difficulty when using the computers in the library.
“I sometimes can’t get into certain sites and it times-out a lot,” Lumas said.
Outreach librarian Lisa Valdez said she also had issues with Pierce’s Wi-Fi connections during this fall semester.
“We had problems with the server the first week,” Valdez said. “So there was little to no access and they had to replace the servers.”
Valdez said after the servers were replaced the problems have gotten a lot better, but connections still seem to be inconsistent.
“It works for the most part but it is a little slow when too many people try to use it at once,” Valdez said. “The bandwidth needs to be expanded.”
Valdez went on to explain that if the problem persists then the college might have to change servers one final time. She admitted that the IT department had already started looking at seedbox server reviews for inspiration about where to turn next.
Library Science instructional assistant Ken Govers said he’s also had the same inconvenient experience with Pierce’s Wi-Fi. According to Govers, it has not worked well for months, and it “seems to be the same.”
Pierce Information Technologies manager Mark Henderson confirmed he has been aware of the issue with the Wi-Fi. Henderson mentioned the construction plan that is meant to expand the network infrastructure throughout the rest of the campus started earlier this year, and added that construction will last “a couple” months more.
Neither Henderson nor members of the administration or the technology committee responded to requests for comment regarding specific updates on the progress of those projects.
