Students Enjoy Wireless Access

This fall, after years of relying on Ethernet cords and jacks, most Harvard undergraduates will be able to enjoy the benefits of wireless internet from the comforts of their dorm room.

Students have been able to access the Internet via wireless access in House libraries and dining halls, but this year Harvard Arts and Sciences’ Computing Services (HASCS) has made a commitment to providing wireless access in each College dorm room.

In February, Leverett Towers and Currier House were the first dorms to go completely wireless as part of a HASCS pilot program.

According to Supervisor of Residential Computing Erin Nettifee, “there is a plan to put wireless access in place for all the houses and the entire yard.”

While not every House is equipped with complete wireless access—the presence of summer tenants made the rather invasive installation process impossible—Netifee said the Yard will be ethernet-free by the start of classes next week.

This year’s freshman class will be the first in Harvard’s history to experience the new technology.

Kate E. Cetrulo ’09, a Stoughton resident, looks forward to the ease of a wireless dorm.

“It makes everything so much easier—less wires, less hassle—and you can move around with your laptop comfortably,” Cetrulo said.

Lowell, Eliot, Adams, and Kirkland will not have wireless in –every dorm room this fall, so residents of these Houses will have to use the wall connections in their rooms, poach from neighboring routers, or relocate to a dining hall in order to get online.

“I’m disappointed, but it’s not the end of the world,” said sophomore Jordan B. Weitzen ’08, upon discovering that his future home, Eliot House, would not be equipped with wireless Internet access.

Nettifee said she hopes that every House will be wireless-ready by next fall.

For now, even Nettifee admits that wireless is “not a replacement for wired”—Ethernet cords will remain the faster, and more dependable, way to access the Internet.

—Staff writer Alyssa N. Wolff can be reached at awolff@fas.harvard.edu.