Say you?re renting an apartment of your own and paying for cable and DSL service on a monthly basis. All your money is going towards a service and you expect to receive that service on a regular basis. If this isn?t the case, are you going to continue paying their service fees for unsatisfactory service? Only a chump would. Once again, I?m “Internetless” here on South Campus. After finally getting back online after a week in “remediation,” I?ve been booted off again, just in time for the deadline for this article.
Since I pay a technology fee on top of my tuition and room and board, I should be reimbursed the fee amount (about $50 per semester), since the Internet service that I pre-paid for isn?t meeting my — and manystudents? — standards.That?s if service cannot be improved, of course.
Things that seem to constantly affect our service here on South Campus include: heavy use of the Internet by the abundance of students on North Campus, a measly drop of rain outside, and the constant bombardment of viruses like the Sasser virus that hit last year, which I also received and therefore had to completely re-install my hard drive.
Although the ResNet staff is helpful with computer problems and certainly are not to blame for this problem, I feel that better Internet service is needed on this campus. There?s got to be a way that North and South Campus service can be divided.
This way, students on South wouldn?t be so greatly affected by viruses and heavy computer usage that originate from North Campus. Kelly Armstrong, a senior living on South Campus, said, “Because of the quality of Internet service on South Campus is so poor, I believe the best solution to fix the Internet problem is to give South Campus its own network.” Even if the network can?t be split, who is our Internet provider that can?t seem to provide consistent, quality service? They?re gaining thousands of dollars each semester from us and are getting away with providing less than satisfactory service. Sounds like a scam to me!
“They need to [monitor] the system better, especially when it goes down,” said Courtney, a junior living on South.
On top of this, service is so sporadic that it?s hard to gauge whose computer is working versus those that are not. Last week I ran around campus to various friends? rooms and ended up at Sykes at 10:30 p.m. on a Saturday night, just trying to send my column in.
Armstrong said that throughout her time on campus so far this semester, she?s been 80 percent dissatisfied with service provided. Courtney, on the other hand, was slightly more dissatisfied, saying that 85 percent of the time she was unhappy with the Internet service.
Maybe my case isn?t exactly a strong one, or one that?s going to be heard by the big wigs in their offices, but at least I?m taking the complaints to a new level by voicing this issue aloud so that others know that something can be done about the poor service if enough of us speak up. So please, voice your concerns and dissatisfaction! For now, I?ve got to quick send this before my Internet goes down… again.
Erin Joyce is a senior majoring in Communication Studies.