Information Technology Services (ITS) is proud to announce that bandwidth for the Resnet service, which provides residence halls at The University of Texas at Austin with high-speed Internet and wireless service, has just been expanded for individual users. Previously, individual wired ports were connected to the university network or Internet at rates of 10 megabits per second (Mbps). Now, users enjoy ten times the connection speed at 100 Mbps. Residence Hall building uplinks have also been increased to one or multiple gigabits per second (Gbps).
The ITS Telecommunications and Networking (T&N) department has worked hard over the holiday break to upgrade over 6,500 Resnet ports in the residence halls. “Connections between the residence halls and the campus network will be really fast,” exclaims William Green, Assistant Director, T&N. “This will enable students to conduct more effective online research and to maintain more reliable, almost instantaneous communications with their instructors and fellow students.” Green adds that “while not our intent, a side benefit is that faster connections will no doubt bolster UT’s title as the number-one online gaming school in the country.”
In addition to faster on-campus connections, ITS projects that Resnet connections to off-campus networks or to the Internet will now be twice as fast as last semester. ITS-T&N has also increased the number of wireless access points across campus to over 2,000.
“I want to thank each of the ITS T&N workers who put in long hours over the holidays to ensure these upgraded services would be available to students upon their return to campus,” says Green. “I’d also like to send a special thanks to the friendly ITS Help Desk staff who rolled up their sleeves to assist in deploying nearly 2 tons of network equipment.”
Resnet users should be aware that their use of this service is still limited by the amount of bandwidth they’ve purchased. Subscribers can choose from three different purchase plans, offering 4, 8 and 12 gigabytes (GB) per week. More bandwidth is available for purchase on the TXShop Web site.
-- ITS Strategic Communications
