UTSA Wi-Fi upgrades to create more seamless experience

JANUARY 16, 2024 — UTSA students returning to campus this semester will have an improved Wi-Fi experience in the new year. During the winter break, University Technology Solutions (UTS) made crucial upgrades to the AirRowdy Wi-Fi network. As classes begin, students will join faculty and staff in using the new, unified AirRowdy network, which has replaced the AirRowdy_FacultyStaff and AirRowdy_Student networks.

All users will log in to AirRowdy with their myUTSA ID (abc123) and passphrase. Additionally, they will need to accept a new security certificate when they connect each of their devices to the new network for the first time.

“The primary goal of the work we completed over the break was to ensure students get connected to the Internet faster and to maintain that connection — to repair and enhance the connection process,” said Kendra Ketchum, UTSA vice president for information management and technology. “Knowing that many students today are using a phone, laptop and other devices simultaneously, we are also working to support more device connections to our Wi-Fi network.”

“This work will help us to further reach the goal of having seamless Wi-Fi coverage on all of our campuses.”

UTS has been working on a multi-year network upgrade since the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020. At that time, the focus was on expanding access points into parking lots and garages to support social distancing and to enable students to work from cars as needed.

Last summer, UTS began replacing wired and wireless network hardware in select high-traffic areas and buildings. Throughout the fall semester, UTS continued to deploy additional Wi-Fi access points in key buildings to improve coverage. With wireless devices being used more prevalently on campus and in classrooms, Wi-Fi connections often exceed 25,000 devices at the same time.

Over the winter break, UTS improved the capacity of the network to authenticate connections and support this high number of devices.

UTS is planning another assessment of the Main Campus’ Wi-Fi service coverage at the end of January. Based on those findings, UTS will prioritize high-traffic areas that need improvement to further improve the campus Wi-Fi experience. Additional upgrades are also planned, including more access points around campus to allow for better Wi-Fi coverage in areas where service could be faster.

“Now that our connection process is upgraded, we will be working over the spring semester to identify ‘dead’ zones on campus where there are weak Wi-Fi signals,” said Ketchum. “This work will help us to further reach the goal of having seamless Wi-Fi coverage on all of our campuses.”

— Jessica Abel Wilkinson