Slow. Broken. Unreliable. Down.

These are all words that come to mind when people mention school Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi shouldn’t be a topic of conversation. Rather, it should just run smoothly without students having to even to think about it.

Many students consider the Wi-Fi at our school one of the biggest problems. Considering that Dexter Community Schools prides itself in its academics being an IB School and AP School with Distinction, it doesn’t make sense that something seemingly so simple could have so many problems. In today’s age of technology, properly functioning Wi-Fi should be a priority. The fact there have been continuous problems for several years makes it clear that it is not a priority.

Superintendent Dr. Chris Timmis believes the source of the problem is the lack of user space on the server. This in part to a new network being set up at the beginning of this school year.

“We tried to set up a third network (DexterBYOD),” Timmis said. “When we set that up what happened was everybody started getting on the Wi-Fi and we found that with all the devices in the district…our hub can only handle about 4,000 logins at one time. We have more than 4,000 logins at one time, so we have to replace that hub.”

IT Director Rick Munir agrees there is not enough user space on the wireless network.

“The problem students are experiencing is with our core switch that routes all wired and wireless traffic for the district,” Munir said. “We recently went 1:1 K-4 adding roughly 1,500 new devices onto our network. Couple that with staff and students connecting their personal devices to our wireless network and we have simply exhausted the limits of our core switch.”

The former IT director, who has since been convicted on embezzlement charges, also delayed the process of fixing the Wi-Fi. To replace the hub, new IP addresses must replace the old ones. To do this, wiring in 80 different locations must be unplugged and restarted which temporarily takes down the network.

“The only reason we have to do that is because our former tech director wiped out our IP address file,” Timmis said. “A lot of this is remenets from some of the damage he did on his way out.”

With this being said, the school district is looking to fix the problem. This can be fixed with approximately $30,000 not including labor. According to Timmis this project will be completed over spring break when students won’t need to be using the network.

Is spring break too late though? For many seniors, the Wi-Fi has been a problem for their entire schooling career, and it can be frustrating to see that it is just now being made a priority. At school we use technology every day, and without properly functioning Wi-Fi and servers it hinders our learning.

Although the school district is taking steps in the right direction to fix the never-ending problem with Wi-Fi, it’s coming too late for many students and teachers that have been frustrated for years.

If you had to describe DHS Wi-Fi in one word…