When Funnelle Hall residents left for winter break last semester, they left behind the memories of a clunky cable that used to connect them to the Internet.
When the spring semester began, residents like sophomore Heather Moore were able to join the vast majority of residence halls that enjoy wireless Internet from the comfort of individual rooms.
“It makes things a lot more convenient and it’s just a lot better having Wi-Fi now,” Moore said.
Not only are Moore and other Funnelle residents free of the clutter created by the cable that used to connect them to the Internet, but the new wireless Internet allows students to connect their smart phones as well.
“I’m definitely not using as much data ‘cause I can finally connect to the Internet on my phone,” Moore said. “I feel like it’s a lot more helpful to be able to use your phone.”
Now that Funnelle Hall has been fully equipped with wireless Internet for its residents’ use, there is only one residence hall let on campus without Wi-Fi: Onondaga Hall.
The residents of Onondaga Hall are still living in the days of clunky cords, dragging the cables behind them as they travel back and forth between their common room and bedroom. Senior Adam Roorda said it’s a hassle to be the only hall left on campus without wireless Internet.
“If I want to use my laptop in my common room, I have to run an ethernet cord all the way out from my other room and I tend to like to work out of my common room,” Roorda said.
Sophomore Onondaga Hall resident Jordan Camp said she finds not having a wireless connection annoying.
“Not being able to use your computer in the common area makes late night studying very inconvenient,” Camp said.
Being the only suite-style residence hall at Oswego State and consisting of only upper-class students, some residents, including Roorda, don’t understand why Onondaga Hall was saved for last.
“It’s rough because the majority of the people are not freshmen so our workload is tougher,” Roorda said, “so it makes it more difficult for us. I wish they were focused more on WiFi for the buildings that have older students as opposed to ones with younger students.”
While residents of Funnelle Hall are now enjoying the ability to save on their smart phone bills by using Wi-Fi in their rooms like the rest of the residence halls, Onondaga Hall residents are still disconnected from that option.
“I use a lot of my data not having a Wi-Fi connection,” Camp said.
Not having a wireless connection requires residents to pay more attention to how they use their smart phone data.
“It runs up my data on my smart phone ‘cause there’s no Wi-Fi,” Roorda said.
“In my two years here at Oswego,” Roorda added, “I have never had the opportunity to experience the Wi-Fi in my room.”
Roorda should have the opportunity to experience Wi-Fi in his room soon if he stays in Onondaga as Campus Technology Services announced on their webpage that they are expecting to add Wi-Fi to Onondaga Hall over this summer.
