Dependable Wi-Fi connectivity is one of colleges and universities’ main selling points to lure students into enrolling at their institution. Students do not ask whether colleges have Wi-Fi, but rather how to get connected to it.

Students assume that their educational institution will have Wi-Fi connections available for them as part of the package. That is why most universities are investing in fast Wi-Fi to accommodate their internet-dependent students without hassle.

Students Need To Be Connected

The University of Montana surveyed students who were accepted but who did not enroll at the school. They found that one of the main reasons students did not enroll was the lack of wireless connectivity in their halls.

What was also found is that around 90% of students own notebooks, and more than 70% own smartphones. This meant that the standard network ports for every bedroom in the dorms were no longer enough for the students.

Thus, many university officials started to shift their focus to strengthening the Wi-Fi access in their institutions’ living quarters.

Drastic Increase Of Mobile Devices

An explosion of mobile devices connected to the Wi-Fi of universities took place, with 90% of students being simultaneously connected at some points in time. This is an increase of around 8,000 to 40,000 mobile devices connected to the network.

This type of increase forced universities to invest in much faster networks, and some of them even upgraded to 250 megabits per second for their Wi-Fi connections. This is about 20 times more than the average throughput in the US of around 10 MBps to accommodate all devices.

With new students bringing along all their unique mobile devices that need Wi-Fi connections, this was a much-needed upgrade. This is the minimum of what students of the future will expect when they consider enrolling in universities.

Leverage For Smart Campus Tech

One of the benefits universities will have when they install faster Wi-Fi networks is better technology on campus. This will also improve their chances of having better connectivity for worldwide interaction with universities in other countries.

It will also help improve students’ chances to collaborate with students in other educational institutions worldwide. Faster Wi-Fi connections will provide a strong backbone for the multitude of devices being used.

Many universities are already investing and implementing the IoT to help with campus facility management and to provide a better experience to their students.

This will help students do online studies and stay connected to their university even while they are not there. Universities will also be able to accommodate their off-campus students with much faster connections.

Concluding Thoughts

Faster internet connections can benefit both the university and the student and improve teachers’ learning strategies and methods. Many of the larger universities are already taking that step to improve their connectivity options and speed to accommodate more unique mobile devices.