USAC seeks to improve campus Wi-Fi with survey on signal strength
Trent Kajikawa, the Undergraduate Students Association Council Academic Affairs commissioner, launched the Your Wi-Fi Sucks campaign that allows students to report varying signal strength around campus. (Jintak Han/Daily Bruin)
By Eric Phe
March 3, 2016 12:43 a.m.
An undergraduate student government office is working to improve campus Wi-Fi connection through a survey that allows students to report varying signal strength around campus.
Trent Kajikawa, the Undergraduate Students Association Council Academic Affairs commissioner, said he launched the Your Wi-Fi Sucks campaign to highlight inconsistent connectivity around campus. On the week two of the spring quarter, UCLA Information Technology Services will release a survey that allows students and faculty members to submit feedback about signal strengths at various campus buildings.
IT Services will use survey data to establish which locations have poor or no Wi-Fi connectivity, said Ashly Mohankumar, director of academic services in the USAC Academic Affairs Commission.
“Students and faculty have all had to face the burden of slow, or even no, Wi-Fi access,” Mohankumar said.
In 2011, IT Services launched a similar initiative to gauge Wi-Fi strength around campus through student responses.
Mohankumar said IT Services employees will work with the Bruin OnLine help desk to investigate areas with varying signal strength and measure it to determine sources of interference.
Ju Kim, senior manager of Network Operations at UCLA IT Services, said in an email he expects the extent and quality of coverage to improve as a result of the survey.
Mohankumar added Internet connection may be slow when many students are trying to connect to the Internet at the same time and place.
IT Services is already working with a variety of building managers to extend wireless coverage to underserved areas on campus, Kim added.
Email Phe at [email protected] and tweet him at @phephee123.
