UNMC Internet

When you connect to the UNMC network using your own personal computer/smart device, you may do so using two methods, hooking up using dedicated Ethernet connection (available somewhere in the library) or by accessing the UNMC network using Wifi. The later being the most common and expected form of connection.

Wifi Connectivity & Performance
Campus Wifi accesss, is quite good, but signal quality and performance varies greatly, obviously there are some places where you will get good signal, and other places where you don't (hiding in a broom closet surrounded by a mesh of RC walls will definitely dampen out much of the radio signal, whereas using it in an open area within line of sight of the access point gives you good performance). The good news is typically, there is a good chance of you receiving good signal in places that matter, so expect it in the library, learning hubs and classroom.

As you would probably expect, there are places where signal performance would be less than desired, while you could write a letter and suggest moving the access point or having additional ones to boost coverage, there is nothing like changing your sitting position to get the best signal.

Internet Performance
As for internet performance, that depends on your network signal performance, supposing that is sorted (full bars, highest network connection speed) you will then be connected to the university network. University internet is quite fast in terms of bandwidth allocation (last I checked it was 200mbps or so shared for the whole university), in terms of ping and latency, you can expect it to be jittery, after all wifi is vulnerable to an array of signal interference and anyone having a go at a microwave will easily disrupt it. So don't expect the smoothest game playing experience when using campus wifi. That is of course if you are lucky, being that you won't be able to connect to most game servers using campus internet connection.

But if all falls good, internet performance becomes a question of how many simultaneous users, well if everyone uses the same pipe, water pressure is definitely going to drop, in addition to that, bandwidth protection schemes such as virtual throttling puts a limit on what you can achieve with the university network. Generally, during peak usage, you can expect to have slow internet while in off-peak such as early hours of the morning or at semester breaks, certain weekends, summer holidays, you can expect campus internet to be blazing fast.

Student Network Services (SNS)
The SNS, is a company founded to run and manage the provided internet in university halls, at the moment, they charge RM XXX for a semesters use and RM YYY for a whole academic years use of internet. Internet is typically unlimited but the bandwidth is slow. They also provide free internet at dizzyingly fast speeds of 384kbps. Paid internet on the other hand gives you speeds of up to 1mbps.

Bradford Network Agent
In order to better manage and control the university network, the university compels students that wish to use their network to install a third party software called Bradford Network Agent. This is entirely optional however, and you may not have to do so, if you are using a smart device, or a microsoft surface tablet.

The main complaint you will be having with this particular piece of software, is that on regular use, it will shut you out of the campus internet enable network, and throw you in remedial classes, where you will have to think about what you are doing and install if not update that anti-virus that you are using. Once again, this whole thing is entirely optional.

If you want to know more
To learn more about the IT stuff, University Information Services publish a series of newsletters highlighting recent changes and upgrades to their provided services. You may also find more info from canvassing blogs and forums.

For everything else: Return to the UNMC Guide