For the past few months it seems like the Wi-Fi at Diablo Valley College is inconsistent at best. Even with the campus computers having a direct connection to the Internet it is still subject to moments of latency due to the constant online traffic.

The constant disconnection, and inability to connect at times can make using the Internet both challenging for students as well as teachers.

Teachers can potentially be interrupted while streaming videos that help students better understand their subject matter, in addition to other Internet based teaching materials that could cripple their intended course lesson.

Students on the other hand face the challenge of potentially not being able to use the internet that is paid for by their tuition. This could be even more upsetting to students that don’t receive financial aid and are paying out of their own pocket.

What causes students to get kicked off the server randomly or not even be able to connect at all is the amount of bandwidth available to the students around campus.

Faculty have their own Wi-Fi, but the issue with bandwidth is that if several people are tapping into it, the Megabits per second or MBPS, has a finite amount that can be used at once. Picture several people trying to use the same water fountain at the same time. The water can only spout out a certain amount of water based on that pressure.

Taking an observation around campus, the Wi-Fi would disconnect and force the user to sign in again, having to wait for the loading screen, then get authenticated and wait a bit more for the authentication to process. When the connection was established the signal would start off initially strong, but would over time lose its connection and at certain times force the user off, despite not moving around campus.

Moreover, other members of the Inquirer staff noted that they couldn’t even get onto the Wi-Fi. The authentication screen wouldn’t even load, or would say that it had “timed out” with an error message.

While this may seem like a minor issue, some students may not have Wi-Fi available to them except at DVC. This could leave students at the mercy of computer availability in the library and computer labs.

However, things may be looking up as IT manager Percy Roper commented, “we are aware of some inconsistencies and work to get the issue resolved.”