WiFi Improving on Campus

Bluefield College students have experienced issues with WiFi service on campus in the past, but those days may soon be over, thanks to efforts by the school’s Office of Information Services and Technology (IST).

Students on campus have complained about difficulties with WiFi access this year, including Rish Hall student resident Jeree Willie.

“The WiFi seems to be improving, but in the first semester it was terrible,” Willie said. “I tried to connect my Playstation to play my game, and it was not worth trying.”

Kelsey Wimmer, BC’s manager of network services, said IST is always looking for ways to improve WiFi service. He said issues are typically tied to two key areas.

“There are always two main things you are looking to account for with WiFi — coverage and density,” Wimmer said. “Coverage is the area that the WiFi covers, and density is the number of users that are able to access the WiFi.”

Steve Kessinger, director of IST, said that his office has been aware of issues with the wireless network, particularly in residence halls where he said there were too many devices for the access points to handle. As a result of direct feedback from students, he said IST made it a priority to request funding for a complete overhaul of the wireless network, which was approved for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

During the summer of 2018, IST replaced approximately 100 wireless access points across campus with approximately 300 new wireless access points, including one in every dorm room. In addition, IST implemented a change with its Internet Service Provider (ISP) to more than double the existing bandwidth.

“Currently, we have a 1Gbps (1000Mbps) connection,” Kessinger said. “We are far from reaching our capacity with the average utilization being in the 400Mbps range and peaks around 600-700Mbps.”

Kessinger said IST also eliminated all of its network traffic shaping to provide students with unrestricted access to all legal services and platforms. He added that IST does still block some things, like illegal file sharing and other malicious content that might infect the network.

“With any project of this magnitude, there are going to be problems that arise,” Kessinger said. “During the fall semester, we did experience several issues, including a number of access points that were not initially online, some configuration issues with the wired ports, and authentication issues with Windows devices.”

Kessinger said students with WiFi or other technology issues are encouraged to contact IST by visiting Lansdell 100 or by emailing support@bluefield.edu.

“IST now has real-time dashboards (that display) what’s happening on the network; a chart showing current bandwidth utilization; and wireless network information including clients connected, data transferred, and more,” Kessinger said. “We can even drill down to the specific device a user is connected to and display everything going on. We’d be glad to explore and discuss the data with anyone who is interested or has questions.”

What students should know about their WiFi experience.

(Provided by BC’s Office of Information Services and Technology.)

• Trying to use numerous bandwidth-intensive devices (e.g. streaming devices, gaming consoles, etc.) in a single dorm room can create a less-than-desired experience.
• Users leaving streaming devices connected 24/7 uses considerable bandwidth. To help with this, users can exit out of their streams before turning the TV off.
• Gaming console connections will be more reliable if wired into a port, rather than connecting wirelessly. IST may need your “wired MAC address” if you do change from a wireless to wired connection.
• Some games require what is called a 1:1 NAT in order to play multiplayer mode. This basically means we would have to assign the gaming console one of the very few addresses we are permitted to own. This is something we are unable to support at this time so any game that requires a dedicated IP address may not be accessible from the network.
• Some games require very specific firewall settings in order to play multiplayer mode. If a student obtains this information from the game studio and submits it to IST via a support request, we will review the information to see if it is something we can do without compromising any security on the network. If we can do so, we will accommodate the request. If there is a security concern to the network, we will not be able to make those changes.
• It is important to remember that Bluefield College is an academic network first. We do our best to give priority to academic resources while accommodating as many ancillary uses as we possibly can.