Of course, it’s not just the tablets putting a strain on wireless and internet systems. Many popular smartphones also are built to take advantage of Wi-Fi networks. So are laptops, eReaders like the Amazon Kindle, and many other devices, including printers and video game systems.
But the growing array of toys students bring to campus isn’t the real issue, experts say.
“It’s not so much the number of devices, it’s the video-based content they are going after,” said Joseph Harrington, president of the Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education (ACUTA).
Harrington is also director of network service at Boston College, where 70 percent of internet bandwidth is consumed by video streaming and downloading. The vast majority of that is purely entertainment.
It’s tempting to question why universities don’t do more to stop students from using school networks for social networking and entertainment.
The reality, experts say, is that students expect to find certain things on campus. A stronger internet connection, preferably with a wireless option, is one of those things.
It’s one of the reasons Washington University — like many area schools — doubled its bandwidth this summer, just a year after increasing it by half. Andrew Ortstadt, associate vice chancellor for information services and technology, feels like they have all they need today. But, tellingly, he’s not sure he’ll be able to say the same thing by year’s end.
The school isn’t sure what percentage of its bandwidth is gobbled up by movies and video games. In some ways, it really doesn’t matter.
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