Our view is that in order to provide a consistent, high quality, wireless experience that students pay for and depend upon, we have to limit interference. We prohibit interfering devices and enforce. We do make a concerted effort to get the word out to students on this even before they even arrive. For opening we buy a few hundred cheap USB cables and hand them out to those with wireless printers who expected to use the WiFi connection. We allow all games to be plugged into our wired network. We do everything we can to accommodate their needs, but we do enforce our policies. We can detect and track down rogues and start off politely asking them to disconnect them. They almost always respond, but we are prepared to take further action if necessary. I should add that we have 100% coverage in all our residences.
Pete M. From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lay, Daniel Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 12:16 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Interference in dorms. Last year we had several students that would complain about poor wireless coverage in their rooms. It was usually followed by the comment that they did not have this problem at home or in other areas of the campus. After performing various test and wireless scans I am of the opinion that a good portion of these problems were introduced by the students themselves by bringing in various devices that emit 2.4 interference. I am curious about how any of you guys have addressed this problem and informed the students of these potential interferences. Have any of you added a section to orientation that discusses the problem of interference and did it have good results. Did any of you do a poster campaign with good results or did you issue a Faraday cage to each student to store their stuff in (yes that was a joke). I can only see this problem getting worse with wireless printers and game consoles that all have a potential to cause interference. I am open to any ideas and or suggestions. Thanks. Daniel Lay Networking Specialist Samford University ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
