If you’ve been hopelessly looking for Wi-Fi on campus, it seems the days of spotty coverage at San Diego City College are numbered.
A new San Diego Community College District Wi-Fi system, SDCCD-Campus-Connect, has become available on the City College campus in and around the AH and BT buildings.
Announced in September, the new system promises “expanded and reliable Wi-Fi access to all campuses and District facilities,” according to the announcement.
City Times performed informal connection, authentication, and speed testing on the new networks using instructions provided on the SDCCD Wi-Fi Campus Connect webpage. City Times subsequently used district support services to report an IT issue as a part of its testing.
“They are still working out the kinks, so it might take a bit more time for everyone to be able to access it and for it to be installed throughout campus,” said Online Faculty Mentor Aileen Gum in an email to all faculty in early October.
The Wi-Fi system has been launched at the Educational Cultural Complex and San Diego College of Continuing Education locations, per the district announcement, “and will be fully complete by the end of November.”
SDCCD-Campus-Connect “will cover all buildings, including office spaces, classrooms, and study areas, along with outdoor areas,” according to SDCCD, which goes on to describe benefits including enhanced information security and “more consistent coverage across all SDCCD campuses and properties.”
The Campus-Connect network is for students, faculty and staff authenticating with a student portal ID and password or faculty email credentials. The current guest network permits a daily use duration of 4 hours.
“Many students, faculty and staff are so accustomed to not having good Wi-Fi in AH that they usually just use their phones as mobile hotspots and move to a location where they can get cell signal,” Gum said. “I think all will be happy once it gets established.”
City Times testing
City Times used an iPad and instructions available on the SDCCD Wi-Fi Campus Connect webpage to connect to new wireless networks named “SDCCD-Campus-Connect” and “SDCCD-Campus-Connect-Guest” in AH floors 3 and 5 and BT floor 2.
A mobile Android phone was able to connect to the guest network, but initially could not use the Campus-Connect network due to issues completing the authentication using student ID and password credentials.
Authenticated connection to the Campus-Connect was later successful after reporting an IT issue using the district support webpage and a help desk specialist provided a quick guide for Android login to the new network.
