We live in a world addicted to staying connected. At any moment, people need to be able to talk to each other no matter how far apart they may be.
Because of this, the wireless capabilities of technologies are always being improved and modified.
In this day and age, someone can receive and respond to an e-mail from London while standing on a street corner in New York. A vacationing family can find out everything about the city they are in just by looking at a cell phone.
These technologies are even more important to those learning how to contribute to the world: college students. They need access to all the latest innovations even to participate in class assignments and projects. Research for an essay is still done in a library, but most of it is looked up on a computer. Despite knowing about these needs, our university is falling behind in having the ability to provide the services we need.
The most obvious of these is the lack of a solid wireless Internet system. Yes, there is a wireless system which works adequately in most places around campus. However, with the current technological capabilities, why is the network not available everywhere? For example, students in Berry Hall have to resort to slower, more troublesome Ethernet connections in order to get work and research done in their dorm rooms.
The trouble with the university’s wireless network does not end there. At football games, sports information employees need the Internet in the press box so they can send out game reports and press releases. Instead of having a solid wireless Internet connection to help with this, they must rely on an Ethernet port, which does not always work properly. Ethernet is not even available at the soccer field, which is just behind Berry Hall.
The campus is looking into buying laptops which could be rented by students from the library. Although this seems like a good idea, since not all A&M-Commerce students have the luxury of a laptop, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to take the money used to buy those laptops and put it towards improving the wireless Internet service? After all, before those laptops can be used, they must have the capability to be used anywhere students might need them.