The CIS Blog

Jump to Comments

Everyone wants a campus network that is as fast and reliable as possible. In the past year, Furman University has made more Internet bandwidth available for students, and has improved the reliability of the campus Internet connection. CIS staff have also improved the reliability of the wired campus network, and are working to improve the campus wireless network. If you do encounter a problem with your network connection, calling the CIS help desk at (864) 294-3277 is a good way to ensure that your problem gets resolved promptly.

There are many things that can affect the performance of your computer’s network connection. These include: your computer, the campus network (wired or wireless) and the campus Internet connection. Knowing more about Furman’s Internet connection, and the wireless network, may help you better understand things that can affect how your computer works on the campus network.

The campus Internet connection

• Furman University has 200Mbps total Internet bandwidth (megabits per second.) This is more capacity than most institutions our size. All of this bandwidth is shared by people on campus trying to use the Internet, and people on the Internet trying to use University network resources (e.g., the campus website.)
• When computers request more than 200Mbps of total data to/from the campus Internet connection, we can expect to see some slowness in Internet performance. CIS uses packet shaping technology to help prioritize campus Internet traffic. Packet shaping lets us set a higher priority for some types of network traffic, and limit other types of traffic.
• Flash video from sites like Youtube, Hulu, and others, have caused increased demand for Internet bandwidth for nearly all residential campus networks (not just Furman.) Please watch Internet videos responsibly; consider others needing to use the campus network, especially during times of high network demand (e.g., Sunday and Monday nights.)

Wireless connections in general

• Unlike wired network connections, wireless connections are a shared resource. When you connect to the wireless network you connect through one of Furman’s many wireless access points. A single wireless access point can provide wireless network service to a local area and multiple computers. All computers using that wireless access point connect to the campus network through that wireless access point’s single wired network connection. If you are using a wireless access point, and somebody else is using that same wireless device for a big file download, your wireless speed may suffer.
• Bittorrent connections (and similar peer-to-peer applications) are especially hard on shared wireless connections. If someone is trying to use bittorrent on a wireless connection, everyone else using that wireless access point may see performance problems. (We also limit bittorrent traffic with packet shaping.)
• Microwave ovens and certain cordless phones can also interrupt wireless network service for computers using a nearby wireless access point.

Wireless connections in residence halls

• The North Village residence halls have partial wireless coverage. Wireless in North Village was designed to provide access in the common areas of residence suites. The quality of wireless connections will decrease the further away you are from those common areas. Most other residence halls have similar wireless coverage for common areas (although fewer common areas than North Village.)
• The residence hall with full wireless access to all rooms is the wireless system we’re testing in Blackwell. The next residence hall where we expect to test a vendor’s wireless access points is McBee.
• If you find you are having trouble with a wireless connection in a residence hall, a good first troubleshooting step is to try connecting your computer to the campus wired network.

Summary
If you experience times when it appears that the campus Internet connection is not working properly, the source of the problem could be something other than the campus Internet connection. Wireless network performance in particular can vary more due to local factors rather than the volume of campus Internet traffic. Reporting connectivity trouble to the CIS help desk at (864) 294-3277 does help resolve such problems. The help desk tracks all calls for help, and, if you call when the help desk is closed, a help desk staffer will be in touch with you when the help desk opens. In the event that the University experiences a campus-wide information service outage when the help desk is closed, please report the outage to Public Safety at (864) 294-2111.

CIS staff are working to improve the campus network, and resolve network problems as quickly as possible. Calling the help desk helps CIS identify and fix problems that may arise. We appreciate your patience as we work to help improve the operation of your computer on the Furman campus network.