“With technology, you can never be optimistic,” network support representative Sal Murillo said. Similarly, we have not been pleased with the administration’s ability to target key issues, such as the school’s often-inaccessible wireless network.

It’s been way too long since they last upgraded the school’s network system (ten years, actually, but who’s counting?) and now, we’re finally catching up to the rest of the world. Since Sept. 16, a new wireless network has been in the works, and the installations are planned to be completed in October 2011. And although it’s easy to feel happy that we’ll be surfing the Internet with greater ease within a month, it’s a bit harder to feel grateful for a change that’s been long overdue. For a school smack-dab in the middle of the Silicon Valley and a couple minutes’ drive away from Apple, it’s not a good sign that we would have stronger signal in a streetside cafe.

Neither is it a good sign that many teachers have found it more convenient to be tethered to their desks than to get something that they can get for free at the local Starbucks. Considering that a good Internet connection is essential to students and teachers alike, the school should have solved this problem much sooner.

Even so, the change is undeniably a welcome one. Considering that the previous network system fell under the wireless local area network standard of 802.11a/b (released in 1999), the new WLAN standard will be 802.11g (released in 2003) and therefore up to five times faster. Additionally, 802.11g WLAN signals are not as easily obstructed: this means not only wider coverage, but also stronger signal.

And what does that mean for students? The freedom to surf fast anytime, anywhere; in short, more efficient last-second cramming.

Upgrade finally almost complete by Karen Feng is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.