Nearly 7,100 students may have experienced Wi-Fi issues with CampusConnect in West Campus over the past two days, said Shellie Corley, vice president of strategic development with CampusConnect in an email.
CampusConnect did not comment on when the issues would be resolved or what is causing the problem.
Corley said the “spotty” Wi-Fi is currently affecting the West Campus apartments 26 West, Callaway, Castilian, Crest at Pearl, Inspire on 22nd, Lark Austin, Skyloft, The Block, The Nine at Rio, Ruckus 2.0 and Scottish Rite Dormitory.
"CampusConnect is fully investigating reports of spotty Wi-Fi in the West Campus area,” Corley said. “We are working diligently to isolate the cause and solve this issue.”
Government junior Hector Mendez said his Wi-Fi at Lark Austin complex went out for about 30 minutes Thursday morning and about three hours on Wednesday. He said he missed parts of class on both days.
“It made me feel vulnerable … since we rely so much on the internet and online connectivity for our school work,” Mendez said. “When I was pulled away from being able to access important resources that I needed … it made me feel like I was let out to dry in terms of my ability to be academically successful at least for that short of time.”
Corley said they are informing clients of the issues through email, phone calls and texts. Mendez said he never heard from his internet provider.
“It definitely shows that there needs to be significant improvement of … the My Campus Net internet that so many apartments in West Campus rely on,” Mendez said. “And also a lot of backup things for online instructors that they should provide as well and accommodations if students end up experiencing these internet outages during their lectures.”
After publication, Corley clarified that the word client refers to “property managers at respective buildings” rather than students.
University spokesperson J.B. Bird said student affairs is communicating with student emergency services to see if any reports have been made about the outage issues.
Editor's Note: This story was updated to include more information from the CampusConnect spokesperson about who they were informing about the Wi-Fi outages. This story was corrected to reflect that nearly 7,100 students may have experienced Wi-Fi issues in West Campus, not that nearly 7,100 students did experience outages. The Texan regrets this error.
