Cable, e-mail give dorms newfound appeal

English House residents can "talk" to friends in Italy free of charge. Students living in High Rise North can watch the Chicago Cubs play on a Chicago-based television station. And Ware College House residents can receive private phone lines for bargain prices. These three residences are among those on the cutting edge of video, data, and voice technology thanks to the ResNet program, a new effort by the University to equip all residential facilities with Ethernet, cable television, and private phone line capacity. The University's Ethernet network – called PennNet – is a high-speed data connection to PennLin, PennInfo, NetNews and the worldwide Internet, which gives students access to e-mail. Negotiations to pay for the residence networking concluded last spring when it was announced that some on-campus residences would be equipped. Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone said students are paying $70 more a year to live in the wired residences. The student response so far has been positive, Simeone said. "I've been hearing very positive things from students, especially about the [cable] television aspect," Simeone said. Simeone added that most of the cable channels are operational, and that someone will be hired soon to coordinate the University movie channel and the bulletin boards. Associate Vice Provost Daniel Updegrove said the response to the Ethernet offering is running "a little ahead of what I personally expected." Over 300 of the 1,500 students eligible for the connection have requested it, and half of campus rooms with Ethernet capacity are currently wired. Updegrove said that due to the high cost of activating rooms for Ethernet, the University's department of Data Communications and Computing Services is only activating the rooms which request activation. The service carries no extra charge for students who use it. "A modem is 100 times slower than an Ethernet connection," Updegrove said. "We wanted it to be fast, and we wanted students to have the same [functions on their personal computers] as they do in the computer labs." Data Communications and Computing Services will begin installing Ethernet cards into students' personal computers next week, Updegrove said. The department will also install Ethernet software on the computers and will teach students how to use the software. Matt Rice, an RA on the Science and Technology Wing of Kings Court, said he has taken advantage of the networking and that a number of residents in Kings Court/English House are using them as well. "Cable is very popular," Rice said. "And quite a few people on this floor and throughout the building have taken advantage of Ethernet as well." Rice, a fifth-year Engineering student, said that the availability of Ethernet is especially beneficial to Engineering students, who routinely use computers for their classes. "It is much easier for people in engineering to use their own computers," Rice said. "You don't have to walk into a crowded computer lab and pray that there's an empty terminal." And the availability of cable television has made the residence hall a more social place, Rice explained, because it enables students to stay inside to see many sports programs that they would otherwise have to go elsewhere to watch. Michelle Whipple, an English House resident, said that ResNet availability was a main reason that she chose to live in English House. "My roommate and I are both going to be using Ethernet, and I'm getting a private [telephone] line," the Wharton freshman said. "I'm heavily into the computer." Whipple, who is from California, said that having e-mail in her room will also be a convenient and inexpensive way to communicate with her family. Updegrove said that the University plans on equipping all residence halls with ResNet in the next three years. The list of residences to be wired next has not yet been compiled.