Although Wi-Fi should be a necessity on a college campus that relies heavily on strong internet connectivity, many Matadors at Cal State University Northridge (CSUN) believe it’s not available here. Due to spotty Wi-Fi around campus, students often rely on their phones for personal hotspots to submit assignments, join online classes or complete group projects.

Students have voiced frustrations on websites like Reddit and YikYak about issues when using CSUN “eduroam” Wi-Fi connection. These incidents are not isolated and are widespread from student housing to newer CSUN buildings, including Goodman Hall. Students discuss network congestion, authentication failures, Wi-Fi connectivity and finding an area where it works.

CSUN’s Wi-Fi is betraying its own students; those who can afford their own hotspots have an advantage over those students who don’t. Having students worry about draining their data plans that in turn generate average billing costs just because campus Wi-Fi is unreliable during crucial times of the semester is unfair all around. CSUN conducted a survey of students, and about 30% reported that the internet connection on their campuses was hard to deal with and overall unreliable.

Cris Sanchez, an engineering major, shared a story about how it took his little sister an hour to connect to the school’s internet and that he feels like it is taking away useful time.

“It takes time away from learning; it’s taking away time for students to be fully involved in their studies when they can’t even load up their assignments or, at times, they can’t even join their online classes,” said Sanchez.

Marisol Reyes, a communication sciences and disorders (CSD) major at CSUN, also voiced her concerns that within academic buildings, it is difficult to predict when she will have connection to the internet.

“It’s honestly hard to connect to our Wi-Fi. Some classrooms have amazing connections while across the hall, my Wi-Fi will completely disconnect within seconds,” said Reyes

This may not seem like a big deal to most, but it can make or break a student in a high-stress situation. Between managing coursework and personal challenges, having to switch from network to network or relocating to find “the right spot” can add to a student’s worries.

“It always goes out at the worst possible times. I’ve been in the middle of an assignment and my work will not save the second the wifi goes off,” Reyes said.

These issues also bring down the quality of education. Many professors rely on their students being able to join lectures or do live assignments in class, but when students can’t complete these tasks because of situations that are out of their control, it is hard for professors to go on with a lesson that they had planned.

The CSU system as a whole has reported that a limited budget has affected the network across its campuses and hopes to replace outdated equipment to improve students’ experiences.

Students think that CSUN can start by identifying dead zones and failure points on campus. Then, they should invest in upgrades, especially in high-traffic areas like student housing and key academic buildings. Additionally, if there are ever any unforeseen issues, transparency with both students and faculty is crucial for them to plan how they will go about their day, considering Wi-Fi unavailability. Finding a study spot is not the challenge; the challenge is finding a spot where the Wi-Fi works too.