UC Irvine residence halls add wifi in Fall 2015
Beginning this fall, UC Irvine student housing will add wireless internet as part of a campus-wide wireless upgrade.
Approximately 8,000 undergraduate students currently living in UC Irvine residence halls are limited to hard-wired internet access. Students looking to gain wireless access to a tablet, computer or smartphone must buy and setup a separate wireless router. By Fall 2015, UC Irvine plans to install 802.11ac wireless access throughout its residential housing.
“It enhances the campus experience for the student and it makes it easier for them to access technology,” Michael Scott, manager of UC Irvine’s network engineering in the Office of Information Technology, told CampusTechnology.com. “Most people with portable devices don’t even have a place to plug a cable into.”
UC Irvine’s Campus-wide Wireless Upgrade
The wireless upgrade, which began a year ago, puts UC Irvine back on track as a leader in campus technology. It’s also one less worry for incoming students, many of whom have lived a wireless life.
“You have multiple thousands of students show up in the fall and [told they] have to go buy an access point and configure it besides everything else they want to do or have to do,” Scott said. “That’s confusing for people leaving home for the first time. Then they’re lined up outside the residential network services help desk.”
UC Irvine’s Office of Information Technology, which is managing the campus-wide wireless, supports the university’s IT needs. Every day, the department helps guarantee that 388,000 email messages reach their intended recipients at UC Irvine.
