Improve Internet Connection in USeP

If you were hired by the university president as an IT consultant, what would you suggest (technology, infrastructure, innovations, steps, processes, etc) in order for the internet connectivity be improved? (3000words)

Internet is a rich source of bundled information for students. Students can get research papers on different topics to enhance their knowledge. Communication with friends and family is easier due to instant messaging websites...creating a social network is also good because it helps people improve on their conversational skills. The Internet provides an immediacy and global awareness to students. Students and teachers are able to have interactions not only in other parts of the country, but also around the world. From this they can learn about the life and issues that impact on other people. Many teachers can get access to relevant discussions hosted by the Internet. Educators can use these discussions and the ability to share experiences with other educators for professional development and to combat the sense of professional isolation. The internet has many advantages indeed, it helps us to find information on almost any topic.it saves us a lot of valuable time.

Having an internet connection in school is really a big thing. Students have actually paid for it right? And students expects a good internet performance. But since students are not that satisfied with the internet connection of the university the result is some are forced to spend money into the internet cafe's outside. Although some students still has the patience to wait the loading of the internet and to fall in line because they seem to have no choice.

The internet connection should really be improved, let me state the current situation of our schools internet connection and equipments as well:
-Limited number of computer units
-Computers load not that fast, sometimes it freezes.
-Some of the important websites are blocked
-Computers have viruses
-Secured wireless connection, only faculties know the security key
-Students are not allowed to plug in their devices

Those abovementioned are just some of my observations on the university's status. Below are my opinions and suggestions on how to improve the university's internet connection:

Increase Bandwidth?
After reading the question my immediate answer was 'to increase the bandwidth' (bandwidth- typically means the net bit rate, channel capacity or the maximum throughput of a logical or physical communication path in a digital communication system). But as i have read and browsed over the internet I realized that increasing the bandwidth isn't really the ultimate solution. Sooner or later after the bandwidth has been spent and the internet connection is still slow, should the bandwidth be increased again? That would be very costly and impractical to suggest. I have read in an article that the network infrastructure should be determined first to ensure that the work infrastructure is viable or sustainable. If the network infrastructure is not sustainable, problems are not going to be resolved by adding more bandwidth; instead you have to think about a network redesign and reengineer process.

Survey students regarding the websites they want to access for educational purposes that cant be accessed in the virtual library.

Unsecured Access Points (Free Wi-fi Access)
In our university there is an undeniably increasing number of students who has/brings their laptops in school, regardless of their courses. It would be very helpful and students will be very happy if our university will have a budget for vacating a space in the school wherein there is an unsecured network where anybody can connect to the internet. Internet plays a big role on the lifestyle of the students not only for fun but mainly for academic purposes. Currently, there is only one Unsecured Network broadcast inside the computer laboratory 1. Wouldn't it be practical to just spend a space, let's say a students lounge where we could access the internet wirelessly? Aside from the fact that students with laptops will surely be happy with that idea, students who doesn't have or own a computer can benefit as well. Since the number of students falling in line to use the computers in our laboratory is expected to decrease, thus, it will be hassle-free for them to log-in into their accounts.

Inform the users/students about the proper use of computers or regarding the schools regulation in using the internet
Some of the students isn't really aware on the proper use of the computer or maybe they are they just have to be reminded about. So it would be good if we will be informed or reminded on the proper usage and the schools regulations on internet browsing, but how? Well, when we log-in to our computer laboratories to surf through the internet the homepage of the browsers are set to www.usep.edu.ph, why not make a webpage that contains the schools regulations and the proper use of computers and set that webpage to be the homepage of all the browsers? The webpage should look very interesting so that students will take time to read it. But how about the students using wi-fi? Hmm, i think the network administrator has a way to set the homepage of every computer/network who wants to connect to his network so even the wi-fi users will be informed or reminded about the schools regulation and the proper usage of internet and computers. Implementing this suggestion will surely be of help not only for the students but for the faculties as well. Additionally, we could promote green campus computing and other valuable things in that webpage. Example of the things that should be showed by the webpage are the facts below on why computer or internet runs slow:

• There are numerous programs that can be obtained over the Internet that are harmful to your computer (aside form viruses). These are not viruses or worms. Instead, they are known as "Spyware." Spyware is not easy to define, because there are so many variations of it. In the most typical case, Spyware usually arrives on your computer because you agreed to permit it. Perhaps you signed up for a free tool bar, or downloaded free software, or you are using some web-based server such as a file-sharing site. Some Spyware merely records information about what web sites you have visited, and transmits that information back to Spy. This slows down your computer because it takes time to send back this information. Some Spyware will actually hijack your computer. Many of the sophisticated Spammers (people who send junk mail) will hijack your computer and send off a few hundred junk emails without you ever knowing about it.

• Another factor that slows down surfing, and is downright annoying anyway, is pop-up advertising. Pop-ups cost you bandwidth, which results in a loss of speed. There should be a pop-up killer installed in the computers.

• There are problems that occur because others are attempting to gain information and/or control of your computer. They may do this by "pinging" your computer. A "Ping" is a request made by another computer for the identification number of your computer. Again, this information can be used to hijack your machine. Installing software known as a “Firewall” can prevent this.

• Viruses of course. SO install an up to date anti virus.

Setting the internet options of our browser would also be of help. Managing caches and defining blank homepages are some of the stuffs we can do to it. If images are not that important in your browsing you may also set our browser not to load the images for fast browsing.

References:
http://www.epinions.com/content_3428491396
http://www.google.com.ph/search?hl=en&q=importance+of+internet+in+education&btnG=Search&meta=