A comparison of wi-fi and wimax with case studies - Florida State ...

5.1.3. Analysis
The FSU wireless network is a very convenient system. It allows all students and faculty to
have more freedom to access the Internet without a strict location limitation. The connection is
robust and the signal is stable. However there are still complaints and technical problems that
exist. Mr. Clint Ringgold, Network Administrator of OTC, said that the primary complaint is
about the coverage of the indoor area. At the beginning of the project, the FSUWIN installation
was focused on the outdoors, especially for public areas, and had very limited budget. Therefore,
if it is not a public area, the installation would be only under the request of the departments.
Hence sometimes the coverage is only a half of the building or very small area of the building.
That is why users may get a signal on one side of the building, but no signal on the other side of
the building. [147]
Concerning this technical problem, Mr. Clint Ringgold mentioned two future goals. One is
handoff and the other is the central controller. Mr. Phillip M. Callahan, Assistant Director of
OTC, said that installing a central controller is their future direction and it should be the
university issue. It is very expensive equipment and the OTC is still waiting for funding.
Meanwhile the other issue is to shift the current technology to fit the controller. The function of
this controller is to connect to the APs around the campus and monitor the status of each AP, so
that the OTC can control the network efficiently. A single controller can connect at least 500
APs. Concerning the other goal, Mr. Clint Ringgold indicated that the current FSUWIN does not
support roaming, so users cannot move between two hotspots and maintain a connection. This
can be done either by switching to another technology or growing the network. Mr. Ringold
described it as a design issue.
The network security is guarded by the FSUWIN login system. Figure 5-9[70]. Every user
needs to register a FSUID in order to login to the system to establish a connection. To maintain
network reliability, OTC has the right to control the traffic load and RF devices are used for
avoiding congestion and interference to wireless signals. The terrain of the FSU campus is
favorable to signal transmission, because it does not have high buildings and the density of
buildings is low. Therefore multipath fading is not serious to the signal.
Mr. Phillip M. Callahan said that OTC faces several difficulties while installing the network
concerning policy and technology issues. Addressing policy, he mentioned ownership and
funding. The OTC has skill and management duty, but does not always own the equipment. For
example, if a department asks the OTC to install FSUWIN for them and they buy the equipment
themselves, then the problem is who is responsible for the cost of maintenance, upgrade and
replacement in the future. They need FSU to set a policy for this issue. For technical difficulties,
Mr. Clint Ringgold indicated that most of the time there is no data-wires in the location where
they want to install an AP, so they need to wire it by themselves or change the planned location.
Users complain about the speed and service quality, but it depends on the radio interference,
such as distance from the AP, microwave and cell-phone. There is another technical problem that
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