The university's main Wi-Fi network, USC Secure Wireless, is working again after an early morning reboot that resulted in a loss of connection for many wireless internet users across campus. The outage lasted several hours and was resolved at around 11:40 a.m.
USC Information Technology Services (ITS) issued an alert Wednesday morning stating that the outage was caused by an issue regarding several access points on campus. Certain types of access points were under "high load levels," meaning that they could not function within the network, according to David Galassi, assistant chief information officer of Enterprise Infrastructure and Services. Galassi also says that the reboot was recommended by the school's network vendor, HP Enterprise.
"ITS engineers applied software patches as recommended by our wireless supplier," Galassi said. "In the middle of this upgrade, one of our wireless controllers failed."
There are about 7,500 access points on the University Park Campus, and these access points connect to one of several wireless controllers on campus. When one of the wireless controllers failed this morning, according to Galassi, 900 access points were compromised in about 50 buildings.
During the outage, Annenberg Technology Services received complaints from students and faculty. David Mora, PC Support Analyst for Annenberg Technology Services, said that the Wi-Fi network issues have been a problem all month.
"It's a struggle we've been encountering for the last three weeks," Mora said. "ITS is working with vendors, and they have to make a point and get it settled."
USC junior Elan Englfiller says that while loss of connection isn't unusual, today, the Wi-Fi connection has been especially bad. Engfiller also says that she has made a habit of switching between USC Secure Wireless and USC Guest Wireless to be able to complete her work.
"It can get kind of annoying to switch back and forth," Engfiller said. "I have to turn my computer on and off so that it will connect, but then it doesn't end up connecting."
USC ITS engineers are in the middle of a multi-year program to improve campus Wi-Fi. The project began January 2017 and will provide network upgrades to more than 290 buildings across all USC campuses. ITS plans to complete the upgrade by January 2020.
"ITS initiated this project to improve the network, wired and wireless, for the campus," Galassi said. "We understand that we aren't meeting the needs of all the faculty and staff and want to deliver a service that is appropriate for a university of our prestige."