Jasper Chen is an Internet junkie. As he chews on a chicken dinner in Norris University Center’s dining area, his friend borrows his Kellogg-issued laptop computer.
“I go on (AOL Instant Messenger), surf the Web, read the news, things like that,” said Chen, a McCormick senior who works at Kellogg Information Systems. “The only computers they have (at Norris) are upstairs — and they suck. They’re also really dirty.”
Chen, a Daily photographer, said he boots up his laptop and surfs the Web at least once a day at one of NU’s wireless access points. Often he is on more than that, doing classwork or checking his e-mail.
Student interest in wireless Internet, or Wi-Fi, has mushroomed at Northwestern this year, said Wendy Woodward, director of Technology Support Services for Northwestern University Information Technology.
A total of 3,805 users have logged in to NU wireless access points since September, and almost twice as many Wi-Fi access points have sprung up this year, Woodward said.
Students are even starting to log on to campus wireless Internet with their hand-held personal digital assistants and pocket personal computers, Woodward said.
“It’s gone up substantially,” Woodward said. “We’re definitely committed to expanding the wireless network.”
During the same time period last academic year, only 725 users logged in to NU wireless points, Woodward said. Some days she noticed as few as 10 users logging onto the Wi-Fi network.
To accompany the growth in Wi-Fi interest this academic year, NUIT has expanded the number of wireless locations for students to access the Internet — there are 224 across both the Chicago and Evanston campuses, compared to 120 last academic year.
Woodward attributed the staggering jump in Wi-Fi interest at NU to a general growth in wireless Internet access. Wireless access has emerged at restaurants and other locations across Evanston, and some cell-phone service providers are on track to offer Wi-Fi access to their users.
“Even outside of Northwestern, things are moving more toward a wireless environment,” Woodward said.
McCormick junior George Chou also is a regular Wi-Fi user. He said he is using wireless Internet more now than in the past, logging on at least every other day.
“I like it because I need my computer for almost everything I do right now,” said Chou, who is a computer science major. “When I’m eating, I’ll use it a lot. Sometimes I use it in class, so I don’t have to fall asleep.”
Woodward said Wi-Fi access will likely continue to expand at NU — and across the nation — as time goes on.
“The future is wireless,” Woodward said. “I got a call from a Medill journalist a little while ago who asked me, ‘What will the world look like in 2021?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, but it will be wireless.'”
