Renee Darbonne
North Bureau Chief
For the 2019 Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting, one of the popular issues the North Campus Student Government Association touched upon was the Wi-Fi on North Campus.
The Student Government at North referred to the student surveys of the previous year and soon realized one of the most pressing issues was the Wi-Fi quality and signage around the campus.
“Last year, during our surveys of the student body, one of the biggest concerns was the Wi-Fi,” said Director of Public Affairs Malkia Higgins.
The open space creates a comfortable and welcoming environment thus giving students the incentive to stay on campus to study or socialize. These efforts have been tested because the Wi-fi connection has not been stable throughout the entire campus. This is especially an issue for students residing in or near building 46, the patios, the library and the Omni Auditorium.
Thankfully, at Broward College students’ concerns do not remain unheard of. Lorne Cleaver, North Campus Technology Officer, together with Ellice Martinez and Mike Coval from facilities and CSPI (the network and systems provider for North Campus) worked with multiple teams to replace 700 existing, but malfunctioning wireless access points, and add 400 new wireless access points throughout North Campus.
North Campus also had additional access points installed specifically to improve outdoor connectivity. The new devices can handle 3 to 4 times the number of users when compared to the previous wireless access points (WAP).
The new devices also provide simultaneous data transmission to multiple devices, maximizing data and improving network efficiency. The new devices are six times faster on a 5 GHz connection.
“I don’t always want to go home to do my work because it can get loud and disruptive so staying on campus works for me,” said Evenson Registe, a student at North Campus. “But when I stay on campus and I still can’t get work done because of the bad Wi-Fi, it really sucks. So I’m definitely glad for this upgrade.”
Students like Evenson are grateful for the change in Wi-Fi connectivity.
Additionally, students expressed concern for better signage within the campus along with the outside of campus buildings.
Student surveys have revealed that because of the abundance of plant life at the North Campus it is difficult to identify some of the buildings on campus.
The Facilities Design and Facilities Planning Operations department began a two-stage process of renewing the signs in the fall of 2019.
Some students may not know the important locations on North Campus and this has been an issue for new students who are not familiar with the layout and students with disabilities.
Phase one was to increase visibility by replacing the building numbers with larger numbers and update all brail signage campus-wide.
Phase two will begin by replacing old signage with newer versions as they commence the renovation process.
The facilities department is currently in the process of finalizing signage standards and will soon begin the solicitation for vendors.
This search is expected to take six months and the department is 9-12 months away from completing the project.
darbr4@mail.broward.edu
