By Rowan Behm
The Scene staff
Forest Park students and employees are reporting widespread problems getting wireless service on campus this semester, creating various levels of inconvenience and frustration.
It’s happening with cell phones, tablets and laptops and, while some locations are better than others, people have been forced to use their personal hotspots on a regular basis.
“I experience problems all the time,” said culinary arts major Patrick Harris, 19. “It connects but doesn’t do anything, or it just doesn’t connect at all. I can’t do my schoolwork because my laptop won’t connect. It gets in the way.”
Harris has the hardest time connecting to St. Louis Community College wireless in the West Wing and in some parts of the East Wing. He has his best luck in the library.
Business administration major Davion Davis, 25, has repeatedly tried to connect using his personal laptop and failed.
“I can’t get on at all,” he said.
The lack of wireless service isn’t just affecting students. Forest Park communication arts instructor Hannah Artman said it’s had a negative impact on her lessons.
“A lot of what I teach involves active research,” she said. “I encourage (students) to use the library database to look up research articles. A lot of times, I just have students working together in pairs or working off hotspots. I’ve had a group that had to go down to the library because the Wi-Fi network is so unreliable.
“Using the internet or a student’s computer is not required (for the class), but it is absolutely unreliable and not something I’ve been able to count on as part of the learning process.” Forest Park President Julie Fickas addressed the problem in her President’s Post column in the Feb. 12 email newsletter for faculty and staff.
“IT (information technology) is working hard to increase Wi-Fi connectivity,” she wrote. “Thank you for logging tickets with the IT Help Desk to help the department determine where the worst problems occur.”
The college’s IT Infrastructure Services department is trying to balance the need to upgrade cable infrastructure against all its other technological responsibilities on STLCC campuses within a limited budget, according to Executive Director Gene Galliani.
“Issues have been getting worse since COVID, with more people on campus.” he said. “With the new construction going on, classes are moving around, and more people are using mobile devices in areas of campus where wireless coverage was previously not needed.
“This puts a big strain on resources, and we are working hard to upgrade switches and put in new access points for wireless where there is an identified need.”
Galliani said the department installed 70 new wireless-access points on the Meramec campus and upgraded more than 50 access points on the Forest Park and Florissant Valley campuses last year, but it still needs to install hundreds more. Each support about 20 devices.
The department also is upgrading network controllers to allow the college to use newer wireless technology, which is expected to improve services.
“We have a network team of five people currently working to provide wireless coverage where needed,” Galliani said. “However, the availability of personnel and resources limit how quickly this can be done.”
The Forest Park campus should be next on the list for installing new wireless-access points, according to Galliani. He didn’t give a specific date.
“For the new buildings on the campuses, we sat down with designers to make sure all points where access points will be needed have been identified,” he said. “The new buildings should be set, once they are built. The wireless connection should be adequate.”
In the meantime, many students and employees are figuring out alternatives, such as utilizing hotspots through mobile-data services or identifying parts of campus where they have better luck.
Psychology major Jordan White, 19, is among those who have given up on connecting to wireless unless they’re in the Forest Park library, where he said it works like “magic.”
“I have problems all the time,” said clinical laboratory technology major Amber Simpson, 32. “It is so slow. I gave up using the Wi-Fi. I just use the hotspot on my phone now.
“I know a lot of my classmates who use their phones for games in class will have trouble connecting. It’s just a pain.”
Several students mentioned that STLCC wireless works better at different times of the day, particularly when there are fewer people on campus.
“I’ve had problems, especially during lunch,” said culinary arts major Nic Pham, 25. “I can barely access. It does work better around 6 p.m., when there’s less people around. Yeah, it’s just annoying.”
Galliani has a tip for students and employees trying to access wireless services on campus: Try to connect to the network called “STLCC-Personal” using college credentials. Connecting to the “STLCC-Guest” network severely limits browsing speed, he said