Despite sparse usage, the Division of Information Technology is planning the expansion of campus wireless Internet services that will supplement the already existing 18 campus wireless locations.
Wireless services at UW-Madison, or Wi-Fi, allow anyone with a university identification to access the Internet on a laptop without having to plug it in, according to DoIT Communications Manager Brian Rust. Laptops must have airport cards to go wireless, a feature most laptops come equipped with today.
Though Wi-Fi is currently offered in densely populated public areas like the east area of College Library's first floor and the Main Lounge, Great Hall and Terrace of the Memorial Union, only about 40 percent of students own laptops, and of those, only roughly 11 percent utilize the services, according to a survey taken last spring.
\[Low usage is] because ... the students seem to not carry their laptops around with them,"" Rust said.
Nevertheless, some faculty and staff hope to add the service this semester to areas of Bascom Hall, Ingraham Hall, College Library, Grainger Hall, Humanities, Agriculture Hall, Social Science and Science Hall among other locations.
Currently, a university advisory group called the Network Task Force is prioritizing possible locations and will choose some to receive wireless Internet this semester, according to Rust.
The service costs approximately $1,000 per location and Rust said the university will install as much wireless as possible within budgetary limits.
""There is some money that is set aside not just from the student technology initiative fund but also from DoIT funds for continuing development for this,"" Rust said.
Despite the national trend of turning many college campuses wireless, some at UW-Madison have expressed hesitation about making the university entirely Wi-Fi ready. Rust said many professors do not have the need for each student to wirelessly connect during class and some have voiced concern that wireless Internet in classrooms will provide just another distraction- surfing the web-in classes already filled with ringing cell phones and text messaging.
Additionally, Paul Evans, director of University Housing, said university officials may opt for ethernet instead of wireless Internet for new dormitories to be constructed in University Square and on Regent Street within the next several years.
""There's issues about security with wireless,"" Evans said referring to the possibility that a person's Internet activity can be traced by others on the same server.
In contrast to campus usage, other Wi-Fi locations near campus are popular among students, according to Scott Sanders, manager of Dunn Bros. Coffee, 517 Lake St.
Even without advertising, Sanders said his store sees higher usage than other Dunn Bros. shops because it attracts university students who embrace the opportunity to go wireless off campus while sipping a cup of coffee.
""I know finals week, with the students that did know about [Dunn Bros. wireless service], it was very popular. I mean, every single day there was five or six people that would spend hours here with their laptops using it,"" Sanders said.
Bascom Hall: first-floor lounge (rear) and courtyard
Helen C. White Library: first floor east, second and third floors west
Grainger Hall: second-floor library, third floor
Learning Support Services (LSS)/Van Hise: study hall, room 455
Medical Sciences Center: room 1335
Memorial Library: rooms 116, 216, 412 Reading Room, lobby, south stack
areas on 3rd, 4th, 5th & 7th floors
Memorial Union: Main Lounge, Great Hall and several 1st floor locations
including Lakefront Cafeteria and the Terrace
Middleton Health Sciences Library
Power Pharmaceutical Library: library, room 2004
Social Science: front lobby on main level
Steenbock Library: second, third and fourth floors
Teachers Education building, CIMC Library: second and third floors
Union South: including the lower-level atrium and study area, the Red Oak
Grill, Copper Hearth, and main study lounge on the first floor.
Wendt Library: fourth floor
Weston Clinical Sciences Center Library
Veterinary Medicine
Chemistry
