The Wi-Fi Initiative at WTF University
by in Feature Articles on 2006-11-30Niklas B considered himself lucky. His dormitory at West Thomson-Friedman* University (also known as WTFU) was the first selected to participate in the campus-wide Wi-Fi Initiative. This meant that he'd be able to take his laptop and work in the more-comfortable areas of the building instead of staying cramped up in his room. Of course, like everything else at WTFU, the Wi-Fi Initiative didn't quite work like one might expect. Connecting to the wireless network required tilting one's laptop to a randomly-changing angle, waiting until the solar azimuth and winds were just right, and not only crossing one's fingers on both hands, but crossing the arms over each other as well. It was a bit inconvenient to say the least.
Achieving such low wireless performance is not an easy task, especially when using the commercial-grade wireless equipment that WTFU purchased. Finding a proprietary wireless authentication application that manages to freeze any computer unlucky enough to drop the wireless signal is an even bigger challenge. Thankfully, the cleverness of WTFU's IT department knows no bounds. They found the perfect location for the dormitory's high-powered wireless router: the basement kitchen.