Photo by Derrick Tucker
Students are able to use their laptops in various locations
across campus, including the Chavis University Center and
Mary Livermore Library.

Students can access wireless across campus

By Heidi O’Conner
Staff Writer

If you have a wireless enabled laptop, PDA, or Cisco Wireless VOIP Phone, you don’t have to wait for a space at the computer lab to get on the Internet.

Wireless Internet is offered in 11 locations around campus. These locations include the Business Administration building, the University Center, Dial building, D.F. Lowry, Education, Mary Livermore Library, Locklear Hall, Lumbee Hall, Oxendine Science Building Annex, Regional Center and Sampson Hall.

However, there are some important things to know before going wireless.

For one, wireless connections are slower than the traditional wired connections. The number of users logged on to the Internet in one given location affects each users speed.

Freshman Cari Pino comes to the University Center everyday to hook up her laptop.

She said that the Internet is faster on her laptop than in the computer lab a few steps away.

Pino sai­d she enjoys doing her schoolwork and browsing the Internet on her computer because she doesn’t “have to worry about waiting in line at the computer lab. There are limited computers, and so many students.”

When having trouble with load times using the wireless Internet, University Computing and Information Services (UCIS) suggests moving to another location, or even changing floors in the same building to improve your connection.

Freshman Tessie Dugger uses her computer mostly in the UC, but moves around sometimes to get a better connection.
“It’s usually fast, unless a lot of people are around at the same time,” she said.

Dugger prefers her laptop to the computer lab because she “prefers to keep everything on my own laptop. I have Office 2007 and it’s not compatible with the lab computers.”

Wireless connections are less secure. Secure sites have a small lock icon at the bottom of the browser page. BraveWeb is a secure site, while BlackBoard and WebMail are not.

All UNCP faculty, staff and students can use the wireless Internet on campus, but visitors need to get temporary access through UCIS.

When accessing the wireless network for the first time, you must first register your computer with the UNCP network.
For more information, contact UCIS at 521-6260.