When Ryan Taylor, U0 Science, logged onto Zoom for a job interview earlier this semester, he was unexpectedly met with the McGill Wi-Fi cutting out. He had been gunning for an internship with Scotiabank, and the interview would determine how he spent his summer.
“I tried to log onto Zoom on my computer, but the Wi-Fi was totally out,” said Taylor in an interview with The Tribune. “I almost missed the interview, which was pretty stressful. I had to run to my room and use my hotspot to get through it.”
Ryan’s experience is not a one-off. Among the many students who use McGill’s network every day in libraries and other campus buildings, several others have reported outages. In interviews with The Tribune, some students stressed the importance of maintaining a reliable Wi-Fi connection, as many rely on McGill’s Wi-Fi to contact family and do time-sensitive schoolwork.
“The Wi-Fi has gone out multiple times throughout my first year at McGill. Most times, it’s fixed within an hour or two, but there was one time [when] it was out for about four hours. I assume that disrupted a lot of students’ studying and ability to get work done,” said Olivia Sampson, U0 Arts.
Extended outages can create unnecessary stress for students like Sampson, especially during busy academic periods such as exam season when deadlines loom.
“The outage frustrated me a lot, as I was hoping to work on my assignments and had multiple deadlines approaching. It would have been fine if it was only a short outage, but it ended up lasting so long that it completely disrupted my study schedule,” Sampson said.
In a statement to The Tribune, the McGill Relations Office (MRO) said that the university’s wireless service is “very stable” and provides “strong coverage across all buildings,” with more than 7,700 access points across 250 locations. MRO acknowledged that they typically receive a few complaints yearly, primarily due to brief Wi-Fi outages caused by renovation projects.
Despite the occasional hiccups, MRO explained that McGill’s IT team remains proactive in monitoring and maintaining the network. Regular maintenance and long-term upgrades aim to prevent future disruptions and ensure that students can depend on stable internet access throughout their time at McGill.
According to MRO, occasional outages can also be attributed to issues with McGill’s firewall, which both protects and manages traffic across McGill’s Wi-Fi network. The firewall is undergoing an upgrade spanning the next 12 to 18 months, which should improve security and enhance network performance.
“This upgrade is part of our ongoing efforts to enhance network infrastructure,” MRO wrote. “Additionally, we recently completed a campus-wide network upgrade that spanned five years, improving both wired and wireless performance across all McGill buildings. The goal of this upgrade is to ensure that both Wi-Fi and overall network performance continue to remain stable and secure for everyone.”
MRO also encouraged students to reach out to the IT Service Desk for support with Wi-Fi disruptions.
“The network is actively monitored and we often identify and address issues before they become widespread,” the Office wrote.
For any updates on Wi-Fi maintenance or interruptions, students can visit the IT Support site.
