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Wi-Fi Hype on Campus

Fauzia Sultana

Students at a Wi-Fi zone at TSC, University of Dhaka. photo: Kazi Tahsin agaz apurbo

Be it the T-20 Cricket match or paying your utility bill, everything in the world is getting faster than ever before. Say, you are on campus and you suddenly remember you have an assignment to submit. You are working on it, with the pressure of time constraint building, when you figure out a number of vital information is not provided and without which you cannot proceed with the rest of the problem. Certainly, there is the computer lab or the colossal library you can get the information from, but either the labs are too crowded or you don't have enough time to delve into the library books. But if the campus supports its own Wi-Fi internet connection, VOILA! You can get the required information without having to go anywhere. Universities nowadays support wireless internet connections for students and faculties to have an easy and fast life on campus. Dhaka University, BUET, North South University and a few more universities in Dhaka have their own Wi-Fi internet connection.

With the wireless internet connection, students can get their hands on information that are taught in class or sort out confusion regarding an experiment they performed in the laboratory. Of course, internet connections are more or less available in the computer labs or in cell phones; but let's face it -- the computer lab and the classroom are maybe floors apart and it is always a hassle to switch off the phone while connecting to the laptop. A Wi-Fi internet connection solves the problem. At the Teacher Student Centre (TSC), it is now common to find students with laptops downloading course materials or just playing online games and enjoying the Wi-Fi internet connection.

Since the wireless internet connection on campus is fast, with speed as high as 500Kbps or even 1 Mbps, it is much easier to go through your friends' recently uploaded pictures on Facebook or watch a video on YouTube with almost zero buffer time. Does it then mean Wi-Fi on campus is for just all play and no work? Kolpo Chowdhury, a student of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET says, “Sometimes we need books which have either rare editions or solutions that are not easily available at book stores but are available on the internet. With Wi-Fi on campus, you have the perfect opportunity to download them within a few minutes.”

However, Wi-Fi is expensive. You might not have to pay a single penny to use the connection, but if your devices are not Wi-Fi enabled, you are actually missing out on enjoying the benefits of the Wi-Fi world around you until you have the Wi-Fi enabled gizmos.

Not just university campuses, but many restaurants, shopping malls and even work places support the Wi-Fi internet connection nowadays. Remember the Big Crunch Theory in Physics, which says that the Earth is shrinking? May be not in size, but the world is shrinking with the technological advancements today and the Wi-Fi internet connection is yet another instance.