One Week Later, Campus Internet Still Riding Short-Bus

Fixing the problem would be too hard. It would require too much money. Too much time. Too many employees. So let’s just let the students who are complaining graduate, then we won’t have to worry about them anymore.

I honestly can’t think of another reason that UWG would let these internet problems go on so long. It’s ridiculous. I can’t check my credit card balance. I can’t use Facebook. I can’t use Netflix or Xbox Live. I can’t load The West Georgian or the Times-Georgian. I don’t get it. Are they really that cynical that they believe if they keep promising week after week to fix these horrific problems, then we’ll just forget that our internet is faster than the 56K dial-up modem I used in the mid 90s?

My throughput is 43k, and my connection speed is about 0.15 mbps.

The Internet in Tyus was clipping along at its usual slow rate of 0.15 mbps, despite the fact that on Sunday, nearly half the campus is gone.

For comparison purposes, here is a speed test using Comcast from my brother's computer - 60 miles away.

If UWG was a corporation or a bank, the government would have had to bail it out. I understand that everyone’s been really distracted by building the new stadium and all that, but it appears that the basic things have been forgotten. If students can’t do their homework, what’s the point of coming to college?

Frankly, as a student, I couldn’t care less what ITS does with their time, as long as I can access the internet. But I can’t. And I haven’t been able to do so the entire semester. Either (A) they’re not able to fix it, which is scary, or (B) they don’t want to fix it, which is infuriating.

Either way, somebody needs to get fired.

UWG Internet Designed to Mimic Chinese Water Torture

This is how UWG students feel while waiting for their browser to load WebCT/Course Den

Students at UWG pay a technology fee so that they can do homework, write papers, and communicate with friends and family using the internet. Unfortunately, that money has either been used to keep the West Georgia flame burning or got spent on “diversity,” because the internet here just doesn’t work. That’s not figurative language or hyperbole. It is literally impossible to do work, school or otherwise, using the internet in the residence halls.

It is important to differentiate between the internet connection in Residence Halls and the internet connection in computer labs like those in the UCC or TLC. While slow, the internet connection in the TLC, UCC, and other common areas is usable. On a weekend, completely alone in the UCC, it’s possible to get close to 30 megabits per second. Though this is below average for the University System of Georgia, it is still fast enough to accomplish school-related tasks. However, these buildings close in the evening, and students must retire to their dorm rooms to study. This is where the trouble begins.

At a variety of times and on different days through the semester, this reporter has performed connection tests in campus residence halls using SpeedTest.net, a free online tool that tests your connection and allows you to compare it to other ISPs or universities.

Emory University, for instance, gets about 60 megabits per second, which is quite speedy. Georgia Tech gets about 55 megabits per second,  Georgia State gets around 30 mbps, Morehouse gets 26 mbps, and so on. The connection in UWG’s dormitories averages less than 1 mbps, more than 30 times slower than the University System of Georgia average, depending on the time of day. At one point over Halloween weekend, the speed in Tyus was 0.1 mbps. That’s so slow that speedtest.net was unable to test it and the site had to be reloaded multiple times.

Delta Only Hires Idiots, Obstructs Justice

Apparently the bureaucrats at UWG aren’t the worst of the incompetents.

I sent this to the AJC a little while ago:

My brother (Everett Smith) flew into Hartsfield-Jackson International
Airport from LaGuardia (NYC) Friday at 8:30 p.m. I was to meet him at
9:00 p.m. However, as I waited, I got a call from my dad informing me
that he had been robbed while he slept on the plane, prior to
touchdown in Atlanta.

My Attempt to Register for Classes is Brutally Foiled

LiveBlogging BanWeb Class Registration

This post was written live, so please forgive any spelling or copy mistakes.
Perhaps we'll edit those out later. Or perhaps not...

12:00 a.m., April 6, 2009. – Having attempted to register for classes online in previous semesters and getting repeatedly foiled by bad technology, poor planning, and general incompetence from UWG staff, I make the decision to keep a journal this time for posterity to help identify what goes wrong this time.

12:01 – Attempting to log in to BanWeb for the first time. Service was even slower than usual, but that’s to be expected. Even the main “westga.edu” site seems to be on slowdown mode.

12:07 – Finally! I am able to log in after a long delay and a lot of long pauses.

12:08 – UWG is attempting to get me to take a survey, asking whether or not I’d rather have an alternative rock concert, a classic movie, or a comedian. I click “no thanks.” How clever of them to try to get me to take a survey when I’m in a rush to get registered for classes.

12:09 – I click Student Services and Financial Aid

12:09 – I click Registration

12:09 – I click on Summer 09

12: 10 – A message appears telling me I have a hold on my record. That’s strange, I shouldn’t have any holds. I click on it.

12:11 – I have a $50 fine from Parking Services for parking in a service space. That’s fine, except I have a tag that allows me to park in service spaces, and I already dropped off the tickets at Parking Services a week ago to get them taken care of.

12:13 – I leave an angry message on the voicemail for Parking Services, encouraging them to start doing the jobs that I pay them with my tax dollars and student fees to do.

12:14 – I leave an angry message on Mark Reeves’ answering machine, echoing the sentiments I had for parking services.

12:15 – In desperation, I attempt to try to register for Fall 2009 instead of Summer 2009, holding out hope that somehow the disease called idiocy will not have spread that far into the future.

12:19 – Still waiting, system responding slower than earlier.

12:24 – Site still loading.

12:32 – I click “reload”

12:33 – Bathroom break

12:37 – I return from the bathroom break, but the page is still blank. I decide to start over from a different computer.

12:38 – The system is completely unresponsive. The system appears to have crashed. Predictable, but still frustrating. Even though we’ve run stories on the terrible internet speed and decade-old e-mail, they still haven’t upgraded either server capacity or anything else, seemingly.

New Arts & Sciences Dean

So I got this today about the new Arts & Sciences Dean -

April 2, 2009

CARROLLTON, GA — The University of West Georgia will welcome a new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences on July 1. Dr. George Klay Kieh, Jr. accepted the offer of dean this week and will replace Dr. Don Rice, who served as interim dean for two years. Both Kieh and Rice are professors of political science.
Kieh, who is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, chaired the political science department at Morehouse College and served as dean of International Affairs at Grand Valley.

Laptop Stolen, 1292 identities at risk – Horay!

Got this from UCM today:

The University of West Georgia is investigating the theft of a faculty member’s laptop computer that may have put numerous individuals at risk for identity theft. Personal information that could include name, address, phone, student ID number, or Social Security number belonging to 1,292 individuals were part of the information contained on file.

West Georgia Football Player Killed in Accident

CARROLLTON, GA — One University of West Georgia student-athlete was killed and another seriously injured in a car accident that occurred late Saturday, March 14, on Interstate 85 in Lee County near Opelika, Ala. Willie Pitts, 21, was killed and Calvin Dennis, 18, and his father, Hillary Dennis, 58, driver of the vehicle, are in intensive care in the East Alabama Medical Center.

Letter From Dr. Sethna – Not Quitting After All

Dear Students,

I have withdrawn from the search at the University at Albany. I have informed them that while it has been a distinct honor to be considered for, and on the finalist list for, the position of President of the University at Albany, I feel I need to be at The University of West Georgia at this point in its history. “So, with my apologies for impacting the pool, I must withdraw from the search.”

This is a big experiment

There’s no telling how well this will work, but we’re experimenting with getting the heck away from College Publisher, and WordPress seems the be the best alternative. We’ll see how College Publisher 5 works out, but in the meantime, we’re planning ahead. This will serve as the location for the West Georgian Blog in the meantime, as a forum for rants, raves, and mean-spirited diatribes, far away from any association whatsoever with the University of West Georgia