"I just think user expectations of wireless are unrealistic and we in IT are probably not doing a good job of correcting that."
It's not that we're doing a poor job "correcting" the opinion, it's that the industry is doing a GREAT job setting unrealistic expectations. When kids go home and get on their $40 Linksys wireless w/o any issues and then try to share space with 30 other kids per radio + all the other RF crap in the air, they expect the same experience. We can kick and scream all we want (I have ALWAYS said that "wireless is a complement to, not a replacement for, the wired network). But inch by inch the mentality is that "wireless is the way to go". And the people above me see that wireless networking is cheaper and THEIR peers say it's rock-solid, so why can't we implement it as good as the next guy? Let's see a show of hands .. how many of you get the parent calling you saying they implemented a "rock solid" wireless network in their office (of 8 people), so why can't we do it? Yeah, that's what I thought. -Brian -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Parker, Ron Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 1:08 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] College deals with wireless issues It looks like the reply-to on the list isn't working right or something. I posted a witty rejoinder to this message and it went only to the original poster rather than the list. Frank has probably implemented an e-mail sender filter as a result. Perhaps our gracious list admin could check and see if I'm mistaken? I couldn't tell how much of what happened at Skidmore was a Time Warner problem versus other issues. There seem to be a lot of things all going on at the same time. I've heard my colleagues at other colleges talk about challenges with outsourcing residence hall networking. One of them had what sounds like a similar experience with a virus outbreak at the beginning of this semester. Unfortunately, it was the college IT staff running around fixing things and taking the blame rather than the vendor. Since this is the wireless list, I'll focus on the wireless issues. If you ask me, this is the important quote: "'The original design of the wireless system in the residence halls was to provide supplemental coverage to the wired network in your rooms," said Sipher'" So a student is sitting there with an unused 100 meg or gig wired port that would probably work fine but the Skidmore folks are being sent running around with their hair on fire because the outsourced wireless is overloaded. I just think user expectations of wireless are unrealistic and we in IT are probably not doing a good job of correcting that. I routinely tell people here to use a wired connection if what they are doing is important. This is in spite of the fact that we have a honking new wireless system with the latest and greatest magic available. I am definitely in the club of "been there done that" along with the folks at Skidmore. Sounds like they are trying to do a good job of communicating about the situation and I've always found that goes a long way towards making everyone happier. There is a lot of good information in that article. -- Ron Parker, Director of Information Technology, Brazosport College Voice: (979) 230-3480 FAX: (979) 230-3111 http://www.brazosport.edu This e-mail sent from my non-mobile, 64-bit, quad core, Windows 7 workstation. > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Frank Bulk > Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 9:02 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] College deals with wireless issues > > http://www.skidmorenews.com/news/information-technology-department-add > resses -wireless-issues-1.2691856#.TrvkfkMUqdA > > This article has some details but doesn't make it very clear if all > the problems have been DNS or otherwise, but I thought there might be > some people on this list who find this news article interesting. > > I don't think Skidmore is on this list, as I don't meant to embarrass > anyone. We've all "been there" in one circumstance or another. > > Frank > > ********** > 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/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
