By KIMBERLY DEMUCHA
Internet connections from on-campus to off-campus sites are now operating at a faster speed because of a recent bandwidth upgrade.
According to a news release, in an effort to speed up Internet connection, BYU has purchased additional off campus bandwidth, increasing the bandwidth size from 24 to 45 megabits.
“During the first week, users were reporting nearly double speed for downloading file from off-campus sites,” said Eric Denna, BYU vice president of technology, in a news release. Bandwidth, or pipe size, is the amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time, Denna said.
The larger than bandwidth, the faster a user can download files and Web pages, he said.
Additional improvements have been made as a result of the purchase.
With the increased bandwidth, network administrators were able to reroute server connections. This facilitated the rerouting of the smaller congested pipes to the new 45-megabit pipe, said Kelly McDonald, assistant vice president of technology.
“This change is part of our ongoing effort to better increase the needs of our customers as the demand of the bandwidth continues to increase,” McDonald said.
Originally, the Internet connections were routed through two pipes. One of the pipes was rather small and as a result, all traffic sent through this pipe was slow.
According to a news release, system administrators reshaped the network traffic to the bigger pipe to avoid congestion and to establish a more preferable route.
“Over the last week or so, I have seen a considerable increase in the speed of the computers while I have been working on the Internet,” said Caitlin Anderson, 21, a senior from Las Vegas majoring in industrial design.
Students will definitely appreciate any improvements made on the campus network, especially when it saves them time, she said.
