Networks and Systems plans to upgrade the campus wireless system to a faster standard and is considering ending support for wired Internet connections in student residences as part of that upgrade, Director of Networks and Systems John Turner said.
Students use the current wireless network much more frequently than the wired one, according to the office's data; therefore, not upgrading the wired network could have financial benefits, Turner explained.
Turner characterized the wireless coverage in the dorms "as good but not necessarily perfect." He added, "We've seen a significant number of students who've been connecting only by wireless." On any given day, the University has over 2,000 users connecting to the wireless network, he said, with many fewer connecting to the wired ports.
"In all the Ridgwoods, there were 11 devices connected [to the wireless ports] last year when we did the study, out of 110 people living in the dorms," Turner said.
The last major wireless upgrade was four years ago, Turner said. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association ratified the new 802.11n wireless standard on Sept. 11, he said. This standard can offer speeds of 300 megabits per second, Turner explained, three times faster than the current wired connection in a dorm. The current wireless speed is 54 megabits per second.
Networks and Systems will start the planning for the campuswide upgrade this semester. "Over the summer . we'll go out to the dorms, we put test access points up, we go with our actual computers where a student's bed, desk, everything is, check wireless coverage, and then we mark down exactly where we would put that access point," said Turner. Networks and Systems would do the main installation the following summer.
The new standard is already employed in the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center, the Ridgewood Residence Halls and the Farber Library study areas. He said users on those networks have reported faster service and fewer disconnections.
Farber is one of the most heavily used network areas, he said. To use the higher speeds, student computers need to have wireless cards supporting ABGN wireless standards, he said. He added that Apple laptops have supported the new standard for three years, as have computers recommended for purchase by Library and Technology Services.
Brandeis currently has Category 5 wiring for Ethernet, Turner explained. "The next technology that we would upgrade to in wired would be gigabit," he said, which would offer one gigabit per second speed but require replacing all the wiring.
He explained that users would not see a lot of benefit from upgrading to the gigabit-per-second speed since the University's network connection is only 250 megabits per second.
"All these things cost millions of dollars," Turner said. He said costs for the wireless system would decrease since Brandeis would not be implementing it for 18 months. Every wired connection outlet costs $1,000, Turner added. "Not upgrading those wires is very, very cost-effective."
Turner said the University upgraded its network connection from 150 megabits per second this summer after a large number of complaints that Internet bandwidth was slow around 3 p.m. in the afternoon. He pointed out that with the advent of legal sources of online video, the file sizes of high-definition legal video could be four gigabytes, while illegally downloaded videos were more often between 150 to 250 megabytes.
If Brandeis chose to not support wired connections anymore, Networks and Systems would take out the electronics supporting that system in the dorms so that the wired ports would no longer connect to anything, he explained. "We would take the equipment out because it draws a lot of power," he said. He added that Networks and Systems could put the electronics back in if there were somebody with a particular need for a device that only works on wired.
One significant unresolved issue with removing wired connections, Turner explained, would be the support of the telephone network, which transmits over the wired connection. He said there was a lot of discussion within Networks and Systems about the issue but no decision as of yet.
Turner said that surveys of students indicated decreasing interest in and less importance placed on campus phones.
He said students hardly use the long-distance service at all, although the phones are used for local calls. "A lot of folks are using Skype or other things," he said.
On the new 802.11n standard, there would be enough bandwidth to support access to videos on LATTE or IPTV that currently only work on the wired connection, Turner explained. In addition to the areas that have the N standard, laptops that support the A standard can currently access those videos because it is a less popular, uncongested network, he said. The new standard would also allow more students to use an access point at the same time with more bandwidth, Turner explained.
"Video is the biggest use of the network today," Turner said. "Not even course videos; Hulu, YouTube, . all these things take tremendous amount of bandwidth." Network use has also changed dramatically, he said. Originally the wireless network was built to be optimal for simply accessing Web sites.
"Now every time you load Facebook, it's like one megabyte that gets downloaded to your computer," Turner said.
As part of the network upgrade, Network and Systems is also preliminarily looking at options for increasing cell phone coverage. He added that he has also spoken with technology companies regarding whether there would be ways that Brandeis could provide better support to networks used by iPhones.
"The [wireless] coverage in dorms could be improved; it's very shaky," Sherry Seibel '11 said while using the wireless Internet in Farber. "I have an issue with the fact that if you're taking a film class, you are unable to screen videos from LATTE via wireless. You have to plug it into your wall, which makes it very inconvenient at times."
Dan Saxe '12 and Seibel both said that another large concern was lack of power outlets in classes. "If you're in a three-hour class, my laptop isn't going to last that long," Saxe, said.