Wireless In The Classroom

Helpful hints for getting the most out of UofL wifi in the classrooms

There are many issues that can face a large group of wifi users in a given area. (i.e classroom) The following list below is some IT recommended best practices that can help maximize your wifi experience in an area with a large group of wifi users.

• Do not predicate time sensitive activities on use of Wi-Fi. There are many factors that go into the reliability and available bandwidth of the campus Wi-Fi service, most of which cannot be centrally controlled. Wi-Fi clients in adjacent hallways and classrooms (including above and below) can consume the bandwidth of access points servicing your classroom. Service interruptions from interference will likely not be resolved during your class. It is best to have a backup plan. Wireless should work most of the time, but due to nature of the medium, it is not possible to guarantee service availability. IT does not recommend using wireless to deliver tests.
• Turn off unnecessary clients. Ask your students to turn off or put to sleep smart phones (such as iPhones and Android-based phones), iPods, and any other Wi-Fi enabled devices that are not being used as part of the class.
• Encourage the use of 802.11n (5 GHz) clients. The 802.11b/g client space is generally more congested and traditionally has more sources of interference, so IT encourages everyone if possible to use 802.11n (5 GHz) capable clients.
• IT encourages everyone to update wireless drivers. The driver is the piece of software that controls the operation of the Wi-Fi radio on the client. Many issues can be resolved by upgrading to the latest version of software. Client issues are among the top reasons for wireless service problems, especially in large enterprise environments.