In Michaelmas term 2020 IT Services worked with colleagues in Oxford SU and the colleges to give students across Oxford the opportunity to tell us about their experience of Wi-Fi in their college. Thank you to all participants!
We received over a thousand responses, which have helped us to raise your concerns and shape Wi-Fi improvements across the University during the last year. IT Services and the colleges have worked on the aspect of this within each of their domains to improve coverage, reliability, performance and support for Wi-Fi. Here’s a summary of your feedback and the action taken so far:
| You said... |
We did... |
| Overall, Wi-Fi in colleges is unsatisfactory |
Made our Wi-Fi web pages easier to find and clearer to follow |
| 91% of respondents had experienced Wi-Fi problems |
Championed your concerns with decision-makers and advised on improvements |
| Wi-Fi issues affected academic work for 56% of respondents |
Monitored performance and confirmed that University systems are not limiting speeds |
| Wi-Fi is worst in student accommodation |
Improved the configuration assistant tool (CAT) for eduroam connections |
| Slow speeds, drop-outs and problems getting connected were the main issues |
Extended coverage and increased signal strength by installing additional access points |
| Only one in two respondents had sought support for Wi-Fi issues, and had a mixed experience |
Replaced older access points to ensure support for the latest technology and improve reliability |
| You want more reliability, faster speeds, and more coverage. |
Added support for IoT (Alexa, Sonos, Xbox...) in several colleges |
| |
Implemented regular checks of Wi-Fi service |
| |
Provided alternative connection methods where Wi-Fi could not be sorted out |
We are still working to complete longer-running activities and are also tackling recently emerged issues (Wi-Fi is an ever-changing technology). Future plans include:
Further information
You can find out more about the 2020 survey by browsing the report and supporting figures.
We will be re-running the survey in the next few weeks. This will update our understanding of this essential service and enable further improvements to be planned. Do look out for an invitation to this survey through Oxford SU. We look forward to hearing from you.
