By Kiersten Hacker
Wi-Fi is an essential school supply — especially in the age of Zoom classes and ELMS discussion posts.
But students at the University of Maryland said the recent instability of the school’s network, eduroam, is adding stress to their lives by making it difficult to contact friends and complete assignments.
Evyenia Zoulis, a sophomore computer science major, has friends across the U.S. and abroad. Zoulis said she is often on FaceTime with them to keep in touch. However, she said the internet connection is so inconsistent that her calls tend to get interrupted.
“I don’t think I’ve had a single call this whole semester where the Wi-Fi hasn’t gone crazy and I’ve lost connection and my friend is frozen or I’m frozen or she can’t hear me at all,” Zoulis said.
Fans crowded Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium for the first University of Maryland football game of the season on Sept. 4, tailgating, cheering and showing Maryland pride — but some reported unstable Wi-Fi connections or no connection at all.
Eduroam seemed to be less consistent than usual for Zoulis that day.
Zoulis said even though her phone had cellular service, she could not contact anyone and was worried she and her roommates would get lost.
“I was the only one with keys so I was like, ‘I’m going to lose them. I’m never going to be able to find them to let them into the apartment.’ It was terrible,” Zoulis said.
About three weeks into the semester, Margaret Scala, a sophomore journalism major, faced her own issues with internet connection. Eduroam stopped working in her and her roommate’s dorm, but worked in the bathroom and the hallway.
“We were both in the middle of doing homework and we were both like, ‘Is the Wi-Fi not working for you?’ And we just tried restarting everything, and then we both just ended up going on my hotspot because her cellular didn’t work either,” Scala said.
After waiting about a week, Scala said her roommate called the IT Department. Scala said her room is on the edge of coverage from two different Wi-Fi routers, and one had malfunctioned. An IT Department staff member strengthened one router so Scala and her roommate could connect to the Wi-Fi again.
Some students reported having trouble connecting to the internet during class. Zoulis said that it is a frequent issue in her College Park Scholars course.
Others said that poor network connection interrupts studying.
Elan Rosenberg, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, said he gets frustrated with eduroam because he is asked to sign in each time he opens his laptop in a new location on campus.
Rosenberg said he had an assignment due on Thursday, but, 10 minutes before the deadline, he faced difficulty logging on to eduroam — even though he had been using it on campus all day.
“It’s really frustrating sometimes and it wastes my time, it’s just annoying.”
UMD offers some guidance for connecting to the free internet service but has not addressed the broader issues students have reported. Rosenberg said he thinks the university should look into students’ complaints since so many people have reported issues.
“They definitely need to think about addressing it or at least look into it and let those students know that they hear their concerns and they’re actively pursuing solutions and changes that they can make to better their experience at the university,” Rosenberg said.
Featured photo: All UMD students and staff can sign into the free Wi-Fi network, eduroam, but sometimes unstable connections interrupt studying or class activities. Screenshot by Kiersten Hacker.