With the addition of 20 new access points, the University has been taking strides towards unwiring more of Penn's campus.
This year, students, faculty and staff can log on to the wireless Internet inside the Nursing Education Building, the Morgan Building of the School of Design, Meyerson Hall and Steinhardt Hall.
New access points for wireless services on campus are chosen based on the need and budget of the respective department.
During the upcoming academic year, the Information Services and Computing department plans to set up access points in a dozen more locations on campus, including the new Annenberg and McNeil buildings.
"Areas where students congregate are natural [choices for] access points," said Robin Beck, Vice President of Information Systems and Computing.
The Penn Law school is largely unwired, as is the School of Design.
Since its introduction in 2002 in Van Pelt Library and Huntsman Hall, wireless PennNet has expanded to over 200 access points, covering the major academic buildings on campus, including College Green, Vance Hall, the Towne Building of the Engineering School, David Rittenhouse Labs, Houston Hall, The Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and The Biomedical Library.
In addition, residents of Hill College House, Sansom Place West, Stouffer College House, Hill College House and the three high rise dormitories -- including the newly renovated Harnwell College House -- can enjoy access in the lounges of their dormitories.
Students living off-campus also enjoy Penn's free wireless -- though they generally have to travel onto campus to use it.
"It's convenient," says Graduate student Stella Singer, "I don't have Internet access where I live ‹¨« and Comcast is very expensive."
Students wishing to access wireless PennNet need a wireless card and an encryption enabled Web browser, such as Firefox or Internet Explorer. Online purchases and credit card transactions can be carried out securely on wireless PennNet.
Wireless users, however, frequently complain of slow transfer rates. Computers using wireless PennNet usually receive about half of the 11 megabytes per second bandwidth of the wired network, depending on interference from physical barriers, as well as the number of people logged on in a given area.
Officials say that wireless PennNet is by no means intended to replace its less mobile predecessor.
"Wireless augments the main network," Beck said.
