Wireless service update 2016

Wireless service update 2016

eduroam wireless service logoWhat you said…

In this year’s (2016) IT Services survey, 25% of you told us you were unhappy with the University’s wireless services eduroam and ResNet.1

We were understandably disappointed and concerned to see such a high level of dissatisfaction as we invest a significant amount of resource into this essential service.

What we did…

First off, we formed a Wireless Task Force. Staff from across IT Services together with student representatives came together to identify areas of concern and investigate solutions.

Next, based on our findings, we started to roll out improvements to the service. Since the survey results were published in July of this year, we have:

  • Installed 2 new firewalls, resulting in the removal of a performance bottleneck
  • Increased the overall bandwidth available to the wireless network
  • Removed the bandwidth cap for individual devices, leading to a potential 10x increase in performance in locations served by upgraded wireless access points
  • Resolved a performance issue with Apple devices
  • Reorganised and simplified our wireless webpages for students - www.abdn.ac.uk/it/student/wireless/
  • Updated and refreshed our user guides on how to configure different devices
  • Launched an awareness campaign, during Freshers’ Week and beyond, using posters and directing students to the Wireless Connection resources in Learners’ Toolkit - www.abdn.ac.uk/toolkit/basics/wireless-connection/
  • Emailed students with advice on reporting problems with the wireless network
  • Offered support to individual students where our user stats indicate their devices are configured incorrectly

And it looks like our work is paying off!

  • We had a 100% success rate helping students get connected during moving in weekend at the beginning of September.
  • In October, we hit a new high with around 9,500 devices simultaneously and successfully connected to our wireless network. We regularly see over 20,000 unique devices on the network over the course of a day.
  • The Wireless Connection resources in Learners’ Toolkit are a top pick for students, peaking at around 2000 hits per week at the start of term.

In addition, we are committed to an upgrade programme, installing newer, faster wireless access points across campus. This is an ongoing project to refresh our wireless estate in line with technology developments.

How you can help

We’ve done a lot since the survey, and hope you are benefiting from the improvements already in place.

We will of course continue to improve the service where we can, but meantime, if you have a gripe please let us know. We can’t fix it if we don’t know about it!

It takes just a few minutes to let the IT Service Desk know about a problem (myit.abdn.ac.uk or servicedesk@abdn.ac.uk) and you will be helping us deliver a quality service for you and your fellow students.

[November 2016]


1 Note: The ResNet service was retired summer 2017