Caroline Wilkerson ~ Copy Editor
Across the University of Lynchburg’s south side campus, students have been complaining about the standing and reoccurring internet issues.
Junior, Laikayah Robinson, said, “I feel like we pay too much money to attend school here for the internet not to work 24/7. It is frustrating and annoying, especially when it comes to trying to get school work done.”
Kimberly Mendez, also a junior said, “I do not think it’s fair that some students can connect to UL_Wif and some can only connect to UL_Guest Wifi…especially cause all of my work is done on my computer. Also, my house in particular, has very poor internet connection, even though we have contacted the IT department on multiple occasions and they have even replaced the internet box in our living room.”
Elena Ferguson, a junior said, “I live in a house on the south side of campus, and the internet sucks so much! The internet never works consistently, and when it does, it is super slow. This makes it super frustrating to get work done at my house, instead I am forced to walk to the library. The only time I can stay at my house to do homework is if I use a wireless hotspot on my phone and get connection from there…however, that is super annoying since it drains my battery, and it too, does not work very well either.”
According to the University of Lynchburg IT Department webpage, “The University of Lynchburg has upgraded several components of the campus wired network in the summer of 2016. ITR is constantly working to improve this vital infrastructure that reaches all areas of campus.”
Jackie Almond, Chief Information Officer of Technology and Resources, said, “Some of the upcoming improvements are we are in the process of providing an alternate internet provider. Currently our campus internet provider is CenturyLink. The new network provider will be from Shentel. This will be beneficial in the case that one internet provider goes down, we will still have another internet provider able to take over.”
Jackie Almond also provided some useful tips for students who are having internet issues. One, “Make sure that the SafeConnect Policy Key is downloaded onto your computer. You must use the Firefox web browser in order to access it.” Two, “Contact the IT department immediately when you are experiencing an issue. Be sure to give a detailed account of your issue including, location, date, time and device being used.”
If you are experiencing internet or technological issues, contact the IT department at help@lynchburg.edu or visit them on the first floor of Carnegie Hall.
