{ prima facie } the Temple Law newspaper

By Jesse Chen

Though Temple Law is known as one of the “most wired” law schools in the country, wireless internet access can be spotty and other technology issues daunt students as well. 2L Christopher De Barrena-Sarobe attested to what has been the bane of many other students.

“Wireless connections in the library can be pretty inconsistent,” De Barrena-Sarobe said. He pointed out that the library is one of the most important locations for internet access, as students are often there for research, citation checks, and other academic work.

However, he noted that the higher the floor, the less wireless internet reception he could find. The same problem occurred when he moved into the stacks. Heavy traffic at peak hours also prevented him from accessing important information.

The issue became even more frustrating when he needed to do a law journal citation check. He wanted the actual article, but he could not find reception.

“So I had to wander around the library for 20 minutes to get a [wireless] connection for a link,” De Barrena-Sarobe said.

1L Urmika Chatterjee was likewise confronted with a series of frustrations. Chatterjee did not bring a laptop to school her first semester, and relied instead on computers in the library.

“They’re pretty crappy,” she said.

Chatterjee explained that she would hop from one computer to the next in an effort to find one to work on and which could connect to the internet. She said that only one or two would often be available and work.

Now in her second semester, Chatterjee has brought a laptop but found wireless internet coverage spotty, especially near the Federal Reporters where she usually works.

Still, these issues are not universal either in duration or magnitude.

For example, 3L Mike Pestrak found wireless internet access to be generally satisfactory during his Temple Law career.

“For the most part [access] is okay,” Pestrak said. He further said that connection problems tend to pop up only once every one or two weeks.

Temple Law’s Dean of Technology Shyam Nair responded to inquiries about these issues.

Nair confirmed that most connection issues regarding wireless “dead zones” came from access attempts in the library stack areas. He said that the physical design of Klein Hall, combined with the ability of stacks and books to “suck up” signals often cuts short the reach of wireless signals.

Regarding connection speeds, Nair explained that Temple Law connects to the internet via Temple University’s primary connection. Therefore, university-wide network infrastructure issues directly impact Temple Law’s connection.

Nair also said, “[Temple Law has] the largest number of users among all other schools combined and during peak times, we have close to 400 simultaneous users on our wireless network in Klein.”

Though Nair does not believe bandwidth to be an issue, he said that wireless access points are being pushed to their limits during peak hours.

In response to this issue, he said that Temple Law is in the process of deploying additional access points on the 4th, 6th, and 8th floors of Klein Hall, and existing hardware on the 3rd and 6th floors have been upgraded.

Nair pinpointed other students’ issues with network connectivity to students’ own hardware.

“We found that students with a particular type of Intel wireless card could not connect consistently to the network,” he said.

His staff in the IT Help Desk in Klein 104 worked individually with these students to restore their connections.

As for students’ disappointment with the library’s desktop computers, Nair said that the computers near the library reference desk and in the carrels have one year left in their three-year replacement cycle, and computers in the Student Research Lab are due to be replaced next year.

Nair said that students experiencing trouble with school computers or wireless connectivity should contact the IT Help Desk via any of the following means: email at law@temple.edu, personally go to the IT Help Desk in K104, or drop a note in the suggestion box on the 3rd floor in the library.