I swear since I got here in 2008, the only upgrade I've seen in the wifi infrastructure around campus is the introduction of MacSecure (thank god... Cisco Access Agent was awful) and the addition of Wifi into the basement of TSH.

Aside from that; everything else sucks even worse than it used to. BSB has literally zero connection outside of BSB 147, which is usually saturated to the point of uselessness. ITB outside of the rooms on the outskirts has no connection. MDCL in many rooms has a weak and usually saturated connection. The psych building is basically connectionless outside of 155 (which is also saturated 90% of the time). Thode is always saturated beyond being at all useful.

In general, I'm having a harder time connecting too just due to too few nodes and too many users. I guess it makes sense; smart phone, tablets and other non-computer wifi devices have proliferated quite a bit since 2008... but shouldn't the school be making some effort to actually keep up with that?

I've talked to people at other schools (Waterloo, U of T, UOIT. etc), and internet availability is never a concern.

Add to the fact that Wind Mobile has basically zero connection in MDCL, BSB and ITB... it's frustrating to say the least.

Thode is seemingly fine in the mornings (pre-ten o'clock) and then it just rushes downhill from there.

It seems to me Mac will only do something if someone starts a fuss - a proper one. I move we congregate near the administrative offices, saturate the crap out of the internet and make them do all the complaining (stupid idea but what the heck).

Also, as far as I'm concerned, BSB has never really had internet access at all. It's too spotty to be considered that.

Originally Posted by Zachary

Thode is seemingly fine in the mornings (pre-ten o'clock) and then it just rushes downhill from there.

Ya... when nobody's really at the library :/

It seems to me Mac will only do something if someone starts a fuss - a proper one. I move we congregate near the administrative offices, saturate the crap out of the internet and make them do all the complaining (stupid idea but what the heck).

lol, but what if they're all on wired? I agree though... we should start some sort of petition. They could greatly improve a lot of areas by adding as few as 10 routers, which should cost less than $3000 (assuming of course the school is going with the absolute most expensive option being presented to them).

Also, as far as I'm concerned, BSB has never really had internet access at all. It's too spotty to be considered that.

Fair enough. For all we know the signal in BSB 147 could just be the edge of a signal coming from a different building.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Ya... when nobody's really at the library :/

And that's when all the cool kids come out.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

lol, but what if they're all on wired? I agree though... we should start some sort of petition. They could greatly improve a lot of areas by adding as few as 10 routers, which should cost less than $3000 (assuming of course the school is going with the absolute most expensive option being presented to them).

If they're wired ... well, cut the wires. *shiftyeyes*

But, seriously, I don't think just getting an arbitrary number of routers alone will fix the problem. They have a bottleneck somewhere in the whole network they need to address. I mean, look at what they've done with Solar.

Edit: I realise throwing Solar into the mix doesn't work but it does have an intentional access limit, so ...

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Fair enough. For all we know the signal in BSB 147 could just be the edge of a signal coming from a different building.

Exactly: BSB's hanging on to HH's signal like a drowning man to a wet plank of wood.

on the plus side: shitty internet speeds keep you focused on your studies.

Originally Posted by Zachary

But, seriously, I don't think just getting an arbitrary number of routers alone will fix the problem. They have a bottleneck somewhere in the whole network they need to address. I mean, look at what they've done with Solar.

It's possible. I'm under the assumption that the wired connection is always full speed (I never actually use it).

Originally Posted by SydWitches

on the plus side: shitty internet speeds keep you focused on your studies.

But as a software engineering student, the internet is a big part of my studies ;_;

During busy times, I have found that library internet speeds are awful, if you can even connect. On the other hand go explore different buildings since I found their are random sweet spots on campus where you can get an amazing connection, including in bsb

Originally Posted by Snowman

During busy times, I have found that library internet speeds are awful, if you can even connect. On the other hand go explore different buildings since I found their are random sweet spots on campus where you can get an amazing connection, including in bsb

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KTH basement as far as i know has the best internet. Also did they not do a big survey to figure out where the worst wifi was. Makes you wish you voted for the guy whos whole platform was "wheres the wifi"

Originally Posted by FauxA

Makes you wish you voted for the guy whos whole platform was "wheres the wifi"

Unfortunately I wasn't around to vote for that. It displeases me greatly that every idiot somehow thought that girl who won was going to actually get them a fall reading week.

Nobody considered that:

• That would mean renegotiating contracts for campus workers, which the university itself is barely capable of without causing some sort of strike. (lol unions)
• Re-organizing the curriculum for basically every course running in the fall term.
• A shorter exam period or Christmas break, meaning significantly less time to study or Christmas break.

At least that guy with the internet thing had a realistic platform. Worst case scenario, he blows his budget on a couple dozen routers and improves the areas simply lacking coverage.

/rant

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Unfortunately I wasn't around to vote for that. It displeases me greatly that every idiot somehow thought that girl who won was going to actually get them a fall reading week.

Nobody considered that:

• That would mean renegotiating contracts for campus workers, which the university itself is barely capable of without causing some sort of strike. (lol unions)
• Re-organizing the curriculum for basically every course running in the fall term.
• A shorter exam period or Christmas break, meaning significantly less time to study or Christmas break.

At least that guy with the internet thing had a realistic platform. Worst case scenario, he blows his budget on a couple dozen routers and improves the areas simply lacking coverage.

/rant

Actually, everybody assumed fall break = fall reading week, which it does not. The break is most likely only going to be an extra 1-2 days if implemented, not a full week.

McMaster has a longer exam period than some other schools while still finishing at about the same time, so most likely the extra time would just cut into exam period by a couple of days.

Oddly enough I never even heard about the 'where's the wifi' platform :/

Originally Posted by starfish

Actually, everybody assumed fall break = fall reading week, which it does not. The break is most likely only going to be an extra 1-2 days if implemented, not a full week.

lol, even worse then. If it involves any changing of the contracts with campus workers though, I very highly doubt it'll happen - seeing as that doesn't benefit the school and is unnecessary overhead for administration.

McMaster has a longer exam period than some other schools while still finishing at about the same time, so most likely the extra time would just cut into exam period by a couple of days.

That can be pretty significant in programs like engineering :/.

Oddly enough I never even heard about the 'where's the wifi' platform :/

Ya, the guy got pretty drowned out by the girl preaching a fall break and the other guy who was really butthurt that he didn't win and accused everyone of cheating.

All they need to do is just flashed their routers with DD-WRT.

Originally Posted by valvido

All they need to do is just flashed their routers with DD-WRT.

Haha, if they're actually willing I have some old WRT54GL routers I'd donate.