It’s honestly pretty sad to say, but one of the things I looked forward to most going home over break was good Wi-Fi.
Of course I looked forward to seeing my dog and my family most, sleeping in my own bed next, but fast Wi-Fi was shockingly next on my list.
Friends and mom’s cooking followed closely, but I’m honestly just tired of slow Wi-Fi.
It’s hard to binge-watch “Friends” if you have to wait 10 minutes for each episode to load. Netflix is my study break, but it takes twice as long as it would with fast Wi-Fi. And it’s not just Netflix.
In a long distance relationship, I’ll FaceTime my girlfriend and the call will drop four or five times during a half an hour conversation. Or it will drop the Wi-Fi but keep going, eating up my limited data plan crazy fast.
I honest to God saw a girl post something on APU Buy and Sell asking everybody in UP to get off the Wi-Fi so she could watch a movie for class.
If that’s not a statement about our campus Wi-Fi, I don’t know what is.
The Wi-Fi isn’t quite as bad if you’re on a laptop, but I use my phone far more than my laptop most days. It’s just more convenient.
Anna Dean, a sophomore psychology major, shared this experience. She said she rarely has problems on the Wi-Fi while she’s on her laptop, but experiences frequent drops on her phone. She gave it a six on a 1-10 scale.
“I think the Wi-Fi should be improved at APU, especially in the living spaces, because the most people are on it in the living spaces,” Dean said. “You see that especially across the street in the sophomore housing because it’s a little farther off campus.”
Jonathan Davis, a freshman computer science major, rated it even lower, at a five on a 1-10 scale.
“I believe since we’re paying a good amount to go to this institution, we should receive what we’re paying for, in terms of Wi-Fi,” Davis said. “At home, it’s a lot faster. Netflix loads at the snap of your finger. Here I have to wait a lot.”
Davis even noted that when he’s Snap-chatting his friends, it can sometimes take a minute or so for the snap (picture) to download. This compares poorly to his home Wi-Fi where he said snaps download instantly.
Yes, these are First World problems. Yes, we should care more about real problems like what’s happening with Jeff Sessions. Yes, the Wi-Fi isn’t extremely terrible, but it’s also not great.
A five and a six on a 1-10 scale are not exactly stellar ratings. Think about it: If you got a 50 or a 60 percent on a test, would you be happy with that?
I agree with Davis, we do pay a lot of money to go here and there should be better Wi-Fi. This is one issue that nearly every student on campus can relate to; therefore, it is something that would benefit nearly every student at APU. There are very few things that could benefit all students across campus, faster Wi-Fi is one of them.
Now if you’ll excuse me, while I was writing this, my episode of “Breaking Bad” has finally loaded.