Posted May 13, 2020
College students nationwide have been adjusting to the shift to online classes. And many students are experiencing the difficult transition of moving back home and yet still being enrolled in classes.
There are many adjustments and it’s tough to pick the hardest one. However, let’s look at internet accessibility. A good internet speed is at or above 25 Mbps (megabits per second), which will support most online activity. But not everyone has good internet access. According to BroadbandNow.com, an independent broadband availability website, 592,000 people in Wisconsin are without access to a wired connection capable of download speeds of 25 Mbps.
Fortunately, I have internet access at home, but it is not always great. Living in the country roughly 30 minutes northeast of La Crosse means obtaining reliable internet can be difficult. Compared to the Wi-Fi in my UW-River Falls residence hall, the internet speed at home is roughly 10 times worse. There are also times that the internet can totally cut out at my house. This is a problem when I am trying to listen to an online lecture while my parents are trying to work from home.
And that leads to the next issue of having a different schedule for my college classes than my parents’ work schedule. If we all are online during the late morning and afternoon it slows the internet speed, but my daily schedule starts three hours later compared to theirs.
The good news is that we’re all learning to accommodate each other during these times.
The article may be found online at https://uwrfjournalism.org/2020/05/some-college-students-face-slower-internet-at-home/.