Wireless Expansion

If there is no wireless service in the area where it is desired, there are a couple of ways to get service installed.  Some, limited public areas will be covered by central funding and other areas can be covered if departments or colleges choose to pay the initial installation costs associated with the necessary equipment.

Inside Public Areas

Limited public locations used by many different groups may receive central funding for wireless service.  Please submit queries to Mark Harsen for consideration.  Mark does not make the final decision, but will see that all requests are reviewed by the proper committees and individuals.  Central funding is limited for public areas and very few will be accepted.

All Other Inside Locations

Other inside locations or entire buildings may have wireless service provided that:

1. A department or college is willing to pay for installation
2. There are sufficient central funds available to purchase the equipment.

Installation charges are currently (March 2008) $250 per required access point.  (While there are no recurring charges for access points installed, please remember that each wireless client will cost $5 per month. Please see Cost for more information.)  To start the process of getting a survey done on a given area, follow the guidelines below:

Ordering Service or Determining Costs before Installation

If you are sure you want wireless service in an area and have the funds to pay the installation fees, you must submit an order with Telecommunications Services.  If you want an estimated cost of installing complete or partial service in a given building or area, then you must still submit an order with Telecommunications Services.

So the procedure is essentially identical:  Submit a work order to Telecommunications Services, complete with budget number, specifying that you want wireless services in a given area.  If you wish final approval of the order once total costs are known, simply state this on the order.  However, final approval is always sought for wireless orders.  Usually, we will email the requestor floor plans that completely cover the areas under consideration.  The requestor should then mark the map, using Microsoft Paint or better, with two different colors (unless an entire floor is to be covered with the same density):

1. Use yellow fill to mark areas where normal density wireless is desired.  This service will handle up to twenty-four 802.11b users or over a hundred 802.11g users (and "g" users only - even one "b" user could drop the numbers way down).  It is appropriate for office spaces and small to medium conferences.
    
2. Use red fill to mark areas where high to very high density service is required.  This would include large meeting rooms or conference centers where 50, 100, to 200 wireless users could congregate for special meetings or large conferences, seminars, or other special events.

Networking would then design the appropriate service and send the information back to the user and Telecommunications Services.  The requestor would then have the option of approving the plan and the costs as is, of cutting down on the service area, and of canceling the work order completely.  There is no cost associated with canceling a work order provided that no actual installation work has been performed.

Once Telecommunications Services accepts the order (based on the availability of central funding to purchase the equipment) and once the requestor approves the expenditure, equipment orders will be placed and installation will begin soon.  We keep a stock of wireless devices and antennas on hand, so installation can usually begin long before any additional equipment arrives.  Obviously, this is dependent upon available inventory.  When an order is accepted, the requestor will receive an estimate of when the service will become operational.

Outside Locations

Some outside locations are under study, but not available for ordering at this time.  Most outside locations that receive coverage will likely be centrally funded and centrally selected with assistance from groups such as SGA.

Questions?

Go up a level and check out the other information on this section of the web.  You'll find coverage areas, costs associated with each client, and more.