Internet traffic has become congested with the amount of students logging on and downloading different media, Donald King, Jr., associate director of university computing services, recently said.
"The residence halls have a peak time of use that works like a pipe with water going through it," King said. "Students just have to wait in line."
In the past year, Ball State has tripled its bandwidth of Internet usage throughout campus to alleviate the congestion, King said. The opening for traffic was increased a couple weeks ago, with nearly half of the expansion directed toward the residence halls.
Ball State leases computer use lines from Indiana Higher Education Telecommunications and AT&T, which are purchased and then stemmed off onto the general campus. They are paid for through a small portion of student tuition and Ball State budgets accounts, King said.
Students who depend on the Internet to do research and keep in contact with friends see the inability to connect as a great inconvenience.
"I wish there was something that could be done to quicken the server or even let me connect. Sometimes I've had to wait almost over an hour to get online," Jennifer Jacobs, freshman, said.
The downloading of music, movies and games also play a role in congesting the connection.
"There have been a few times this semester that the movie industry has called because students were downloading movies illegally," King said. He encouraged students to review the rules of computer usage that contribute to the problem.
One employee in computer help services in the LaFollette Complex reported that many students have been experiencing difficulties, but not anymore than they might usually have.
"The calls come in spurts, but they mostly all come in at the same time," Graig Davis, junior, said. Davis also said that a main reason for the congestion was do to the new upgrading of America Online's Instant Messenger, which had a technical defect in it.
Besides connection problems, some students have reported recently receiving the same e-mail numerous times to their Ball State account.
"I got about 20 of the same junk mails in the past couple days," Hector Garcia, senior, said. "It's a real hassle to have to go down and delete each one, one by one."
Graduate student Martin Miller said he knew of friends that had gotten about 50 or so of identical e-mails sent to their accounts.
King said the e-mails that came to students in bulk were from off-campus e-mail accounts, which was corrected this past weekend.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
