Leah HennigAs of August 15, the University of Alberta traded UWS wireless internet access for a new wifi network, eduroam. All students and staff using UWS had to switch networks, which comes with short-term hardship, but hopefully long-term gains.
The UWS system was consistently dysfunctional. There were network outages throughout campus that affected students during classes, labs, and midterms. In a four-month semester, every class is desperate to use all the time they have. There is no extra time to redo quizzes or midterms if the wifi cuts out. These outages left students overwhelmed and the internet system overworked.
The U of A has switched to the eduroam system to hopefully fix the connection problem. Eduroam is advertised as a secure, worldwide roaming access service that should both improve connectivity and give U of A students wifi access throughout Edmonton. In theory, this should be an upgrade for everyone on campus.
The City of Edmonton is using eduroam in many of its facilities, which will allow students to log into wifi using their CCIDs. This is an incredible idea that will greatly benefit students and make our student fees more worth it. Student fees increase every year. This increase is unnecessary from a student’s perspective, but we may become less irritated by student fee costs if we received more citywide services like eduroam.
Eduroam is also available for students to use at institutions worldwide. This will make travelling to conferences and abroad more convenient. It will also make visiting MacEwan University a lot simpler, which also uses eduroam. If other reputable institutions locally and internationally are using the service, I would assume it would work at the U of A.
I have high hopes for this internet service, but I am also aware of its faults.
Public wifi has always been inconsistent. There is very little reception in University Station, and I have struggled to access free wifi outside of a library. We could be trading one struggling system for another.
Logging into the U of A wifi has always been difficult for students. The UWS system required CCID verification that did not always work. Unfortunately, setting up eduroam will continue to come with these barriers. The U of A website outlines how to disconnect from UWS and connect to eduroam. The process is tedious and frustrating.
The U of A has warned about the switch for the last year, but I waited to switch until I had to. I can only hope that once eduroam is set up on my devices, it will work better than UWS did. As a university student, I did not have a choice over which network the U of A uses. Whether eduroam provides fast wifi or not, I will be using it.
I cannot be upset about the timing of the switch because I was told months in advance. But, if a student was not paying attention to campus newsletters, they have missed the announcement and are forced to switch during the chaotic first few days on campus.
The U of A is such a large campus that eduroam may share the same issues that UWS did. It may be slow. It may be inconsistent. I will not truly know until I use it, but if other institutions have reliably used the system for years, I can trust that reputation for now.
