Ever feel frustrated by the Wi-Fi icon at the top of your screen that never seems to hit full signal? Or when the Webb printing site freezes just as you are trying to print a reading right before class? Or the outages? 

You are not alone. Webb Wi-Fi has always been a recurring topic of complaint among students. 

“The fact that it works half the time and the rest of the time it’s telling you that it’s working when it doesn’t drives me crazy,” said Josh Fenner (‘27).  

But is it simply a problem of the Wi-Fi provider or the tech office being too slow during outages? The truth is, providing reliable coverage across Webb’s sprawling campus is more complicated than it seems. 

“We’d love to put Wi-Fi on centennial field permanently,” said Larry Guyer, Webb’s Director of Technology and Innovation. “But there’s no cable out there to connect to any Wi-Fi unit. To run fiber, we’d need to trench about two feet deep, which takes an incredible amount of resource and time.” 

The same issue applies to areas like the tennis courts and faculty field, where distance, open air, and the lack of underground cables make installation of access points extremely difficult and time-consuming.  

Another point of consideration is the priority of the location. 

“Classrooms are the top priority, followed by dorms,” Mr. Guyer said. “And we are just less focused on a place like tennis courts because less students use Wi-Fi there.”  

Despite these challenges, Webb’s technology team has already made notable improvements in several key areas across campus. One major upgrade took place at crossroads, a hotspot for student traffic and one of the most common Wi-Fi “pain points” in previous years. 

“We were having a lot of Wi-Fi issues at crossroads,” Mr. Guyer said. “So, we replaced the one access point that was there with a new, bigger unit that handles more traffic.”  

The tech office is also constantly monitoring the Wi-Fi system to ensure that it runs smoothly. 

“We are checking the logs almost every day, if not several times a week,” Mr. Guyer said. “This will help us detect outages in the shortest amount of time.”  

Even with many Wi-Fi units distributed across campus, certain areas still face weaker connectivity. In MacLeod and Appleby, for instance, the upper floors typically receive stronger signals than the lower ones. Larger dorms like Jameson and Alamo face similar challenges, with their size and layout creating uneven coverage across different sections of the building.  

“The most frustrating thing is when I am trying to work on a final and then the Wi-Fi just stops working,” said Juliet Rohrer (‘27), a Jameson resident.  

In that scenario, Mr. Guyer suggests that students use Ethernet cables, which connect devices to the internet physically rather than through Wi-Fi.  

“My understanding is that every dorm room should have an Ethernet port on the wall,” Mr. Guyer said. “I would say use the Ethernet port in your room, and you will almost never have an issue. If you are ever struggling with Wi-Fi, you can always send a ticket to [email protected], we’ll see what we can do.” 

Despite the ongoing challenges with Webb’s Wi-Fi, the tech office is actively working to identify problems, test new solutions, and strengthen the network. The system isn’t perfect, but it is evolving. Understanding that process helps students see the bigger picture behind every loading screen.