The University of Memphis installed new Wi-Fi equipment in residence halls over the summer, but many students say the changes have led to slower speeds and unreliable connections.
The university replaced outdated wireless internet switches with new network switches before the semester began. While the upgrade was meant to improve connectivity, students have taken to social media and dorm GroupMe chats to complain about lagging speeds and inconsistent service.
“It kind of sucks. It’s pretty slow, and you can’t really do stuff on websites,” said Madison Hicks, a sophomore living in Rawls Hall. Hicks added she has to refresh websites sometimes for them to work, something she did not experience last year.
“It's decent, half the time, but sometimes it will spontaneously give out,” said Donovan File, a sophomore at South Hall, “I’m not sure if that's just because of my dorm, but every now and then the connection gets really spotty, and I have to disconnect and reconnect to get things to load again.”
Dr. Jeff Delaney, the university’s chief information officer, said the school is aware of the issues and working on solutions.
“Like all technology, networking equipment has a defined useful life, and it was time to replace many of the network switches and all of the wireless access points on campus,” Delaney said. “We still have more work to do throughout campus, but we wanted to get all of the students in the residential halls taken care of before the semester started.”
Delaney said that the Wi-Fi issues are due to the students moving back in and the need to tweak equipment.
“Now that students are back and we have a real load on the new equipment, we are able to see where tweaks and adjustments are needed in order to optimize the throughput, reduce interference, and provide for a reliable experience,” said Delaney.
He added that technicians were sent to South Hall last week to troubleshoot anomalies in the dorm’s internet connection.
A speed test conducted in South Hall using an iPhone 13 showed an average download speed of 22.1 Mbps and an upload speed of 1.98 Mbps. While the download speed is adequate for basic use, the upload rate falls short of reliable performance.
The university also transitioned to a new network login system this year. The previous network, “UM,” required only a student ID and password, but the new “UM Home” system requires students to request a special access key through the university website.
Mel Eleftheriou can be contacted at mlfthrou@memphis.edu.
