Before wireless installation is complete on both campuses the University will have to upgrade some of its older equipment. Though some buildings are already equipped with the necessary technology to support wireless connections, older buildings require some revamping before access points can be installed.
Many of the smaller buildings on Bedford and Exeter Streets that house departments need new data jacks. “It seems like an oxymoron to say we’re wiring up for the wireless but that’s what’s happening” said Dana Thompson technical coordinator at Telecommunications, the department responsible for installing the new jacks.
The cost of installing new data jacks for wireless service is not included in the $60 million state bond approved in June 2003 that is funding this initiative. The bond pays for the access points but not the labor or upgrade.
Computing Technologies (UCT), the department surveying and installing the access points, has had to readjust its priorities because of this project, said Jim Cyr, technical manager at UCT. “I don’t think that it’s a major drain” he said, “It’s just a redirection.” He also said the extra cost was not budgeted.
“It’s kind of like getting a free car” said Saridel Hel, a workstudy student at UCT, ” but then you have to pay excise tax, registration.” Hel worked earlier in the project determining where to install access points.
UCT Director, Mert Nickerson, said the cost to the University for each access point is about $100 to $150. He anticipates there will be between 100 and 125 access points when the project is finished. This, he estimated, composes about 10 percent of the total cost of the project.
The old jacks cannot support the increased traffic anticipated for wireless. Jack connections in the older buildings handle up to 10 megabits of information, whereas wireless can handle up to 55 megabits. The new data jacks installed by Telecommunications would handle up to 100 megabits of information.
“We could throw it in there and let it run at lower speeds but we just want to do this once,” said Cyr. Cyr also said the upgrades would have been necessary within the next few years whether wireless was installed or not.
If Telecomm were to install new data jacks in each older building on campus, that would increase the cost to UCT by $2000 per building, said Thompson. UCT is planning to strategically place access points so as to avoid replacing jacks in all the buildings. They hope to install points in one of every three buildings to provide access to every building. Cyr said that six or seven buildings would most likely need new jacks.
UCT has pulled money from its budget to cover this unfunded portion of the project.
“I don’t think that I should be harassing the Chancellor for doing this to us,” said Cyr of the project, which is a goal for not only USM but the entire UMaine system.
There are currently 116 separate users that have at some point tapped into the unfinished wireless network.
Wireless installation is complete in the Woodbury Campus Center, Masterton Hall, Payson Smith and the Science building. Lewiston-Auburn College, which has one building, is also wireless.
Three million of the bond was apportioned “to support educational technology improvements” for the UMaine System, and approximately $600,000 of that is earmarked for wireless installation on all seven campuses. The bond is being divided to ensure that all campuses, including centers like Saco and Sanford, are wireless.
“Does it include the farm in Aroostook? We haven’t gotten there yet,” said Gerry Dube director of UMS Network (UNET) the organization providing complimentary surveying and installation to the smaller campuses that don’t have a department comparable to USM’s UCT. He said this was UNET’s contribution to the project.
The wireless internet project is still on track for completion by the beginning of the coming fall semester, said Cyr. UCT is currently working on installation of access points in buildings on both the Portland and Gorham campuses. Some of these buildings include Luther Bonney in Portland, and Brooks Student Center and Russell Hall in Gorham.
Christy McKinnon can be contacted at [email protected]