Changes continue to occur on Drake University’s campus. One of the first places students look for this new information is on Facebook statuses, which they’re about to be able to access more quickly.
Students at Drake rely on Internet access on a daily basis. It provides them with services such as printing, e-documents and class threads on social media sites, like Twitter and Facebook.
Sophomore pre-pharmacy student Tricia Potempa lives on campus and is completely dependent on Drake’s bandwidth.
“Good Internet is important at Drake because most classes use online sites to post instructions and give assignments,” Potempa said. “If the Internet connection is bad it will cause issues with meeting homework deadlines or make it difficult to email professors with questions.”
Students have commented about being pleased that extra money is being spent on this improvement.
“I am glad they are spending on bandwidth because if my tuition is going to be increased I want it to be put towards something that is going to benefit me, and not just a small group of people taking J-term classes,” Potempa said.
Ken Kass, systems administrator for Drake, says the increase in bandwidth occurred so that students could have faster Internet during the evening.
“I can tell you that the upgrade was in response to slow speed experienced by students in the evening,” Kass said. “We have one main connection everything is lumped onto that one pipe. The increase in demand was in large part though due to an increasing in HD streaming video content, additional devices (iPads, androids, etc.), and is a problem that is being experienced everywhere.”
Dana Swanson, a sophomore secondary education major, is one of the many students who rely on Drake’s Internet service as a resident.
“It’s important to have good Internet connection because it gives us the chance to view media, do homework and have fun in an expedient manner,” Swanson said. “Increasing our bandwidth is good, but my tuition dollars should be going towards my education and the activities I participate in so I can get a great job after graduation. The Internet speed was fine before, but it will be nice for it to be a bit quicker.”
