Campus Wi-Fi Becomes a Point of Contention

By Tre Mastran

Jambar Contributor

Complaints of inconsistencies in campus Wi-Fi have recently begun to surface at Youngstown State University.

Students at YSU have expressed moderate displeasure with the functionality of campus’ wireless internet, including a perceived uselessness of its auxiliary Wi-Fi channel.

YSU student, Angelo D’Avanzo, addressed his issues with campus’ AT&T Wireless channel.

“It’s good when I switch to the YSU wireless. However, my computer and phone automatically log me in to the AT&T Wi-Fi,” D’Avanzo said.

D’Avanzo suggested, to better serve the student body, YSU may benefit from getting rid of the AT&T Wi-Fi altogether because he doesn’t think anyone uses it.

Slade Bower, student at YSU, was not as impressed with the YSU Wireless Wi-Fi channel.

“It’s on and off. It’s kind of inconsistent. When it works, it works … It’s hard to reach sometimes,” Bower said. “You need Wi-Fi for everything that involves this stuff nowadays.”

Bower’s sentiments were echoed by fellow student, Julian Troncoso.

“It gets overloaded really easily, especially in [Kilcawley Center],” Troncoso said. “It’s so bad in [Kilcawley Center]. You’ll be sitting here and it’ll just kick you off.”

Paige Garthwaite, a telecommunications junior at YSU, put the issues she’s had in terms of how it affects campus residents.

“A lot of people, especially people that live in dorms – they don’t have Wi-Fi,” Garthwaite said. “We all have projects and everything to do. It would be nice to actually use the Wi-Fi.”

Despite a general consensus among students that improvements could be made throughout campus, electrical engineering sophomore John Galvin put the issue in terms of a bigger picture.

“It depends where you are, honestly,” Galvin said. “There [are] some buildings where it doesn’t work so well. Like Moser is probably, so far, the worst I’ve seen, but Kilcawley works pretty well for me.”

YSU’s staff has also faced some minor issues with inconsistent Wi-Fi. Admissions Counselor, Monica Mastran-Czopor, weighed in on the topic.

“I do recall that it seems to work better in certain areas of campus than others,” Mastran-Czopor said. “For instance, it works beautifully at the Rec but not so good in the admissions office. We sometimes have to switch to AT&T.”

The desire for reliable Wi-Fi on YSU’s campus is a point that seems to be a common concern among staff and students alike.

“Wi-Fi on campus a necessary amenity, particularly so students don’t have to use up their data,” Mastran-Czopor said. “It needs to be a lot stronger so we don’t have to switch back and forth.”