NIU can’t expect students to be productive and get their homework done if they can’t access reliable Wi-Fi. NIU needs to do better at improving Wi-Fi for students. 

It is imperative that NIU’s internet improves, both for students and staff. Students at NIU depend on Wi-Fi for a variety of reasons such as school, meetings or even for jobs. 

When students are unable to complete assignments because of subpar Wi-Fi, their grades could suffer at no fault of their own.

NIU’s Wi-Fi is constantly failing students. When students connect to Wi-Fi, it tends to run slow and web pages take a long time to load.

Matt Parks, Chief Information Officer at NIU, explained that there are some causes for the internet not working.

“When we do get tickets about Wi-Fi connectivity is oftentimes, not always, but oftentimes a user’s laptop or tablet or cellphone could be having connectivity or configuration issues on it,” Parks said. “It is possible from time to time, a wireless access point does fail, like an individual Wi-Fi access point router that’s connected up to the ceiling does fail. Usually within a couple of days, it gets replaced with a new unit out there.”

While it is good that the routers get replaced, students still seem to be frustrated with the Wi-Fi.

Georgi Dimitrov, a junior music education major, expressed his frustrations with NIU’s Wi-Fi.

“I think it’s just constantly not working, and there’s no change. There’s never a good day where the Wi-Fi is working, for me at least,” Dimitrov said.

When the internet goes out or doesn’t work, students feel frustrated. Students are unable to complete their work, or they have to use their phone’s hotspot to finish assignments. Students have enough stressors and should not be dealing with disappointing Wi-Fi. 

Dimitrov also expressed the importance of needing the internet for assignments.

“My roommate either has to be at the philosophy building or psychology building all day and has assignments to do, but she can’t get on the internet to do them,” Dimitrov said. “It just puts us all behind because we want to use that free time we have at school to go online and do our assignments; but if there’s no internet, then it’s kind of like time wasted.”

Students have plenty of other commitments such as jobs or spending time with friends. Students in college need all the time they can get.

Phoenix Cole, a senior anthropology major, said they think the internet is inconsistent.

“It’s just finicky. One day you can be somewhere and it’s perfect, then you can be in that same place the next day, and it’s, like, the worst experience of your life where you can’t get any work done,” Cole said. “If we don’t get that test done or that assignment in during a specific time period, then you’re out of luck. How are we supposed to function as students if we can’t get our stuff in on time because of the internet?”

Students are paying money to come to college to be successful and can’t even do that because of failing Wi-Fi. 

Parks also talked about the improvements that are being made to the Wi-Fi in certain buildings.

“We’ve got Stevenson Residence Hall (Wi-Fi renovations) planned for spring and summer of next year,” Park said. “Holmes Student Center is another area because of the size of that facility. We anticipate that improvement to the Wi-Fi in the student center will happen next year as well.”

Students need better Wi-Fi now while they are taking classes and completing assignments. 

Students that are struggling with the Wi-Fi can submit a ticket to NIU’s IT department. By submitting a help ticket, students can communicate with an expert who can help them with the internet. 

The responsibility falls upon the university to ensure strong and reliable internet connectivity. Students shouldn’t be forced to hold out for their hotspots.