We’ve all been there, from our dorm rooms and student lounges to Fondren Library. Trying to connect to PerunaNet by repeatedly pressing reconnect, restarting our computers, or moving five feet away, until we are finally able to establish a connection with a wireless network that allows an email to be sent with the same speed as manually delivering a letter across campus.
It boils down to whether stable and instantaneous access to the single largest information source on the planet in any location on campus at any time is too much to ask.
Many believe it is not.
Although the student body has become accustomed to limited connectivity, it is a problem that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
“It’s the technological equivalent of always walking around with a rock in your shoe,” says computer science and engineering faculty member Mark Fontenot. “We’ve become desensitized to the issue.” While tuition rises by over five percent annually, students find themselves departing from campus to places like Starbucks, with unwavering connection for the price of a tall coffee. Students like Gavin Benedict feel that for paying the equivalent amount per year for school as the sticker price of a brand new luxury car, students shouldn’t have to put up with this.”
PerunaNet is no luxury. Students depend on the internet now more than ever for accessing, completing, and submitting their class assignments. Greg Thompson, a freshman at SMU says that when he uses PerunaNet, service will randomly drop and break the webpages he has open, including online homework services.
This is a problem that not only affects students, but also faculty. Professor Fontenot, faculty-in-residence in Cockrell-McIntosh Hall, said that having access to the Internet is a vital part of what he does.
Living on campus and being at the mercy of PerunaNet introduces many challenges: “When I hold office hours in Cockrell-McIntosh, teaching computer science almost always requires access to the Internet.” He adds that the state of the current Internet is a contributing factor in deciding whether or not he will continue as a faculty-in-residence after this year.
In addition to the numerous reasons students find to procrastinate, an internet connection should not be another hurdle in the race to be productive.
Tyler Douglas Anderson comments that if the wireless Internet were capable of running smoothly, he would take about half the time to do his work.
“You sit down and take about 20 minutes trying to connect, succeed, and suddenly five minutes later you’ve been kicked off the network and have to spend more time reconnecting.”
Assuming that the problems with the wireless network can be resolved like most (by throwing money in its general direction) I hypothesize that as a whole the SMU community would appreciate their invested tuition being allocated towards creating a miraculous wireless network.
“We have established our internet nomenclature to be based on that of a Shetland pony,” states student Trigg Burrage, “So we need to upgrade to MUSTANG NET.” There is currently an online petition circulating throughout the student body in effort to bring attention to the overall dissatisfaction with PerunaNet and can be found here: http://www.change.org/petitions/southern-methodist-university-oit-provide-better-internet-service-to-the-campus (assuming you are able to connect).
Scarlet is a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering.
