Slow internet service to be thing of the past with purchase

Internet users on campus and in the residence halls this fall may finally receive some relief to the severe bandwidth congestion caused by the increased number of file-sharing applications.

The Information Technology Center has tried to resolve the bandwidth ability to handle the tremendous growth and use of peer-to-peer applications such as Napster, Gnutella and Kazaa. These file-sharing programs have affected the Internet speed on campus and have made it difficult for some students to do classroom work and other work-related activities online.

Information Technology has tried to limit and regulate bandwidth utilization since 2001. Now, a solution may have been found by purchasing more bandwidth.

Currently, SIUC resident halls are limited to 10 megabytes of bandwidth between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. and 30 MB between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. The bandwidth will be expanded to 40 MB during the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. and 40MB to 65MB during the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The cost of the bandwidth increase is $81,000, and the project will be completed during the second week of August, according to Charles Campbell, the associate director of network engineering at Information Technology.

On Wednesday, SIUC received 29 MB of bandwidth from the Internet service Illinois Century Network. Based on enrollment numbers, SIUC receives 29 MB by contract and must pay for the additional bandwidth itself.

Too many downloads and peer-to-peer transactions are using up so much bandwidth it is slowing down the entire system. It does not matter if a computer is on your floor to slow down Internet speed.

“Someone in Morris library can affect the Internet speed in Mae Smith or Thompson Point,” Campbell said.

Internet users off campus can use up SIUC bandwidth by using peer-to-peer applications and file sharing.

Information Technology began to receive complaints about the slow speed in the fall semester of 2001, and the complaints gradually became more frequent.

Other ways that Information Technology is trying improve the system is by identifying greedy users. One method is a hardware system designed to identify bandwidth junkies who are making frequent downloads and slowing down the Internet speed for the rest of the campus. Once these users are identified, their service can be disabled, Campbell said.

When the Internet bandwidth demand is high, the entire system slows down. When the system is slow, sometimes the users will become irritated with the slowed system and will start to click, click, click, backing up the system further and even locking-up their computer. Once their computer freezes, the Internet user can become even more frustrated and may even begin to hit their computer, Campbell said.

“Hitting your monitor or computer will only hurt your monitor and computer,” Campbell said. “It won’t make it work faster.”

In addition to bandwidth problems, Information Technology has legal issues to deal with. Every week, Campbell receives half a dozen complaints of copyright infringement that are based on the SIUC campus.

If an SIUC Internet user has a copy of copyrighted material, such as music, movies or video games, and then makes it available to other users, that qualifies as copyright infringement.

Once the user is identified, Information Technology emails the individual and gives them three days to either remove the material from their computers or to explain that they have a legitimate reason to posses the material in question.

The Student Judicial Board is also notified, and if subsequent reports of copyright infringement are reported, the user will be disabled and the board will review the case and handle it according to the Student Code of Conduct or University policy.

Downloading copyrighted material is not only illegal, but is also the main cause of Internet speed slowdowns on the SIUC campus.

“The individual user has to deal with the headache and frustration of one malfunctioning computer,” Campbell said. ‘The Information Technology Center has to deal with 8,000 headaches.”

Reporter Nicole Sack can be reached at [email protected]