As wireless coverage expands around campus, wireless technology is making gains with students using the technology in and outside the classroom.
Dale Smith, director of University Network Services, said about 75 percent of the University campus is accessible for students to utilize wireless service. The wireless service relies on three different WiFi or 802.11 systems — called a, b and g — which is the standard for most wireless cards on the market today, Smith said.
“We are unrolling a five-year plan, and it’s going along well,” said Smith, adding that he wants more wireless coverage in the Knight Library.
For most students, the increased wireless coverage at the University has prompted many to forgo desktop computers for the more mobile laptop set-up, which gives students access to information and files anywhere from the EMU to certain classrooms at the University.
Chris Mueller, an employee at the University Bookstore’s Digital Duck, said students who purchase laptops are almost always interested in how they can get a wireless set-up.
“Students don’t just want the wireless just for school, but they want wireless at home too,” Mueller said.
“It’s a major convenience because you don’t have cables all over the house, or you don’t have to carry cables around with you.”
Mueller said the wireless card selection at the Digital Duck is compatible with the University wireless system and that most PC systems should be able to handle the PC-compatible wireless cards offered, provided the operating system is Windows 98 Second Generation or later.
Daniel Albrich, the Microcomputer Network Specialist at the University’s Computing Center said the main criterion for choosing a wireless card is sticking with a name brand wireless card so that device drivers are available for it. “If I were in the market for wireless, I would buy a 802.11g card,” Albrich said.
The 802.11g card offers a faster speed than its more popular cousin, 802.11b.
A specific wireless card that caused a problem with University students, Albrich said, is the Microsoft MN-520 because it needed to have a broadcast name, or SS identity, to log on to a network and the University’s system doesn’t support the use of an identity to access its networks. Albrich also cited concerns with wireless technology, saying new wireless standards claim to be much faster but exaggerate speed, and these new standards are unsupported by the University, meaning a user cannot log on using these wireless cards.
“Hardware vendors want money, period,” Albrich said. “There’s no standard for many of these new technologies and many hardware vendors are making products that don’t have any finalized standards, which means everything from speed to compatibility is affected.”
He said an 802.11b card will work for the University wireless and most places where wireless is offered.
University student Brady Miller said he likes to carry around his laptop when he’s on campus and he
typically uses wireless at the EMU.
“I think the University’s coverage is really good and I like to use the laptop in class because it’s good for discussion and you have a lot more information at your disposal,” Miller said.
Miller identified residence halls and some areas of the library as being key areas in need of improvement for wireless access. He added that the University should keep its wireless system up during the summer.
Smith said the Network Solutions department recognizes the need to improve access in residence halls, but this is a low priority because the focus is on public places where many people would benefit from wireless access, and also because all residence hall rooms come with two ethernet ports.
Wireless technology isn’t limited to laptop computers. Albrich said
students also come in with Pocket PCs or handhelds looking for help on how to set them up to use the Internet.
Most of the handheld computers today that advertise wireless technology need a Bluetooth-enabled phone to access the Internet, Albrich said. Bluetooth is a wireless standard that is limited in range, mostly because its original goal was to replace Infared — the technology found most on a remote control — so that computers could access printers and other computers without wires. If the phone and handheld both have Bluetooth, the handheld connects to the phone and then uses the phone’s network to access the Internet.
“To get a scope of how much range Bluetooth has, it would mean that any student using a handheld with Bluetooth would have to sit right under an access point to use the Internet,” Albrich said .
But many handheld computers offer WiFi, or 802.11, wireless that lets students connect to the 218 access points currently at the University, Smith said.
Also, certain PDAs that do not have integrated wireless can surf the Web with Secure Digital expansion cards the size of a thumbnail, which slide in or out of the handheld.

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