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- NYURoam's wireless infrastructure has been upgraded to include new 802.11a radio interfaces at all NYURoam locations. Typically, wireless cards that are 802.11a compliant will default to the newer, less congested radio frequency.
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Shared Bandwidth
Bandwidth within a wireless access location, or wireless cell, is shared. If you are the only user in a cell, you will have 54 Mbits/sec all to yourself (or 11 Mbps if you have an older, 802.11b wireless card). In a densely populated environment such as a lounge or classroom, you could be sharing a cell with numerous users. NYURoam is designed to accommodate this type of sharing. However, several users in a cell running bandwidth-intensive applications (e.g., FTP or streaming video) simultaneously may cause performance issues.
Please keep in mind that performance can be directly impacted by what you or other users in your immediate area are doing. If you use an 802.11g (54 Mbps) radio in the presence of an 802.11b (11 Mbps) radio client(s), your peak data transmission rates will be less efficient. If you are accessing a wireless access point along with at least one 802.11b client, then the access point must perform additional work to regulate traffic it receives and transmits because of differences in how 802.11b and 802.11g radios modulate (transmit) data. As a result, the faster 802.11g radio sees a significant downgrading of speed to less than 25 Mbps when sharing bandwidth with an 802.11b card.
Wireless "Reception"
Since wireless data is moved via radio signals, you should exercise the same common sense you would use when talking on a cell phone. If you experience poor audio quality during a call, you may reposition the phone or move yourself (e.g., closer to a window, into a hallway) to improve your reception. The same logic applies for your wireless equipment: slightly reorienting your computer, or moving yourself a bit from your current location, may improve your connection.
You probably will not encounter this problem unless you are on the fringe of a wireless cell or in an area that has a fair amount of metal objects (e.g., library bookcases) or heavy masonry obstructions. If your wireless client includes a "Link Test" feature, you can use it to determine the quality of the wireless connection in any given location (details vary by client).
Coverage
ITS is committed to providing reliable signal quality in all of the areas designated as NYURoam supported. If you experience a problem that does not seem to be related to the issues described on this page, please see the NYURoam Help section of this website for troubleshooting tips, frequently asked questions, and contact information.
Please note that you are far more likely to encounter performance issues if you are trying to access NYURoam outside of the supported coverage areas. Please relocate to a supported area. ITS will not be able to help you with performance issues encountered outside of the designated coverage areas.
Page last reviewed: August 23, 2006