VCU offers Internet access, no strings attached

Connecting to the Internet at VCU doesn’t require sitting in the library, your dormitory or any other building for that matter. Several spots on campus allow anyone with the necessary computer equipment to log on to the Internet via VCU’s wireless network.

The main advantage of using wireless networking equipment, especially with laptop computers, is that the user can be anywhere within the network coverage area and access the network. If the network maintains an Internet connection, the user can log on – whether sitting at a desk, on a couch or under a tree.

Several standards of wireless networking equipment exist. VCU currently uses the 802.11b standard, which is common among wireless networks. A higher-speed yet more costly standard called 802.11g is also available. Computers equipped with 802.11g cards can still access networks built with 802.11b equipment.

According to the VCUnet Web site, current wireless network coverage on the Academic Campus includes the area in and around the Eugene P. and Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences building, Oliver Hall, the School of Business Building, the James Branch Cabell Library, and the School of Engineering Building as well as the northern end of the University Student Commons.

Coverage on the Medical Campus includes the Larrick Student Center, the Tompkins-McCaw Library, the Smith Building and Hunton Hall.

The university’s plan to expand on the Academic Campus will bring into the fold the areas in and around the entire Commons building, the Hibbs Building, the Stuart C. Siegel Center and the West Broad Street Student Apartments. Similar expansions on the Medical Campus would include coverage in Bear, McRae, Rudd and Warner Halls in addition to the Wood Memorial Building and the Lyons Dental Building.

Further improvements planned are the implementation of a Virtual Private Network, a security system intended to minimize the vulnerability of the wireless network to hackers.

Wireless network cards cost anywhere from $20 for a basic model at discount computer outlets to nearly $80 for some high-end models, which may decrease their appeal to cash-strapped students.

Gregg Bates, a first-year student at VCU, said, “I don’t have the money for a wireless card.”

For those who do have the money, the wireless network offers opportunities to do school work, catch up with friends on instant messenger programs or just surf the Web in a variety of locations.

Carl Sommerfeld, a sophomore at VCU, basked in the sunlight provided by the Commons’ large windows as he accessed the university network from his Macintosh laptop computer despite being far from a wall outlet.

“With the access to a computer being primarily in the library,” he said, “(the wireless network) makes using Blackboard and doing research … easier.”

Sommerfeld said he uses the wireless network five times a week to get schoolwork done or “just to pass the time between classes.” However, he thinks the university should expand the coverage areas, he said.

“If you go to the food court area you won’t get anything,” he said.

More information about VCU’s wireless network is available online at www.vcu.edu/vcunet/news/wireless/wireless_index.html.

News Co-Editor Matt Busse contributed to this article.