DECEMBER 5, 2023 — University Technology Solutions will take campus Wi-Fi networks fully offline from Tuesday, December 26, through Saturday, December 30, to make upgrades that will foster a more reliable Wi-Fi experience across all UTSA campuses. The enhancements follow scheduled improvements that were made over the summer to several high traffic areas in anticipation of the university’s growing enrollment.
Although AirRowdy Wi-Fi will not be available on campus during the five-day project, connectivity in the residence halls will not be impacted and the upgrades will not affect remote access UTSA systems including Canvas, PeopleSoft, myUTSA, the UTSA VPN, Banner and DegreeWorks.
“University Technology Solutions is committed to fostering an environment where our students, faculty and staff can seamlessly study, work and connect,” said Kendra Ketchum, UTSA vice president for information management and technology. “The upgrades we have planned will enable our network to manage more users, creating a more sustainable, reliable and secure wireless environment.”
Most of the hardware used for wired and wireless networks – switches, routers and access points – typically only lasts five to seven years before it needs replaced. UTS has been upgrading equipment at UTSA in smaller projects since the start of the COVID pandemic. At that time, the focus was on expanding access points into parking lots and garages to support social distancing and to allow students to work from cars as needed.
The next phase of the university’s multi-year network upgrade was completed last summer when UTS began to replace the hardware in select high traffic areas and buildings. With wireless devices being used more prevalently on campus and in the classroom, Wi-Fi connections exceeded 25,000 devices some days. This large number of devices caused the authentication process that allows a student to connect to the wireless network to reach maximum capacity. Introducing new equipment to the old infrastructure also created challenges.
Throughout the fall semester, UTS has continued to deploy additional Wi-Fi access points in key buildings to improve Wi-Fi coverage.
“In an assessment of our wireless ecosystem, we found that 62% more devices are connecting to our wireless resources, compared to this time last year,” said Ketchum. “We will continue to make investments across our campuses to handle the growth and demand for new coverage areas to ensure a seamless wireless experience for our university community.”
When completed, UTS’ December 2023 upgrades will consolidate AirRowdy_Student and AirRowdy_FacultyStaff into one UTSA Wi-Fi service called AirRowdy. All employees and students will be able to access this unified service with their myUTSA ID (abc123) and passphrase. The AirRowdy_Guest network will also be upgraded, but it will remain separate from the network for students, faculty and staff.
When students, faculty and staff return to campus following the winter break, they will experience a slightly modified login process to connect to the updated AirRowdy network. Upon initial connection to the AirRowdy network, users will be required to accept a new security certificate. This certificate will need to be renewed on a yearly basis for each device. Detailed instructions about the login process will be shared in future communications.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
This event will acknowledge graduating seniors from the McNair Scholars program at UTSA before inducting the new cohort of scholars into the program.
North Paseo Building (NPB 5.140), Main CampusAt this memorable celebration, UTSA graduates will be introduced one-by-one to cross the stage and accept their doctoral degrees.
Arts Building Recital Hall, Main CampusRoadrunner Walk is an event for graduating students to have a memorable walk on campus to celebrate an important milestone and their achievements. Graduates will walk along the Paseo while being celebrated by the UTSA community, friends, and family members.
Student Union Paseo, Main CampusCelebrate the accomplishments of College of Education and Human Development, College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Sciences and University College.
Alamodome, 100 Montana St.Celebrate the accomplishments of Alvarez College of Business, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.
Alamodome, 100 Montana St.The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
