Does anyone know how good the free wireless internet is on campus? It's probably better in the buildings, but does it work outside at all? This information is imperative as it could lead to some epic playlists during tailgate season.

it SUCKS in the dorms. They call it the most wired for wireless campus in Ohio. please.
on another note, its probably quicker outdoors, and in some spots, near bulger, honors, orr, it goes as fast as the wired internet...
good luck!

I dunno about the wireless on campus now, but they were talking about being one of the only wireless campuses in the country 10 years ago. Some affiliation with Intel.

Probably set us back due to now having older wireless technology

Finally... the thread where I can let loose... [prepare yourselves]

The wireless here on campus is completely hit or miss. Sometimes you get a really good connection and you're set for your wireless needs. Others you are screwed. I have a class in a room over in Polsky... I swear to god it's the only room in the entire building that doesn't get a stable connection; one minute im connected and surfing the net, the next im disconnected. I am currently in the Computer Information Systems program over at Summit College and even I believe the wireless here on campus is horriffic. Rumor has the the network administrator here at UA doesn't even have all his CISCO certifications. How someone who isn't certified to run a large-scale network such as UA's is beyond me..

Back to the topic at hand: tailgating. You must have been reading my mind because I was planning on doing the same thing. I was gonna bring a laptop and load up www.pandora.com and let it play my music for me while I'm tailgating (if you don't know about pandora.com, check it out and thank me later). Based on what I recall you saying where you'll be, you should be fine. The wireless at Schrank South is very stable and you shouldn't have a problem getting a connection. In fact, I distinctly remember sitting in the McDonald's across the street and using UA's internet. However, I am going to assume that you don't have a UA login and won't be able to use the Tsunami network and will be using the guest connection "RooTown" (I could be wrong on the name here). Even so, you should be okay, but I know for a fact they have a filter on the free wireless so you may or may not be able to use it the way you want. Id definitely do some scouting/research to find out if what you want to do will work.

However, with all this I should add this: Don't go without a backup plan (iPod, CDs, music on the computer itself). Like I mentioned, the wireless can be a bit sensitive here depending on where you are, but generally the wireless outside is good. I remember sitting outside by the fountain by Bierce and surfing the net and having an excellent connection there as well.

Hope that was helpful!

I'd have to agree with UAZipsman.

I get a better connection while taking a dump in Shrank South than I do inside my bedroom in Gallucci Hall.

Thanks ZipsMan, Pandora was my original intention, but then I thought I might try out Rhapsody, but wanted to double check the connection status before I shell out $14 a month for a tailgating playlist. I really just wanted it because there are so many people who swing by our site and want to hear a tune that I've never even heard of.

okay guys, I consider myself pretty geeky, but I don't get why you would stream music (lower quality due to compression and possibility for buffering latency if you get network problems) when you could just load a library of MP3s on some thumb drives, DVDRs, or even just plug your iPod into an input jack...

In a loud, uncontrolled enviroment high compression audio actually sounds better than high quality audio which comes across as too soft and easily lost in the background noise. If everybody was wearing studio headphones then mp3's and DVDs would be more preferable.

Don't get us wrong... that is a great way. However, www.pandora.com offers high-quality streams (although it requires a good connection) and it generates the playlist/music for us. For example, I create a "station" on my pandora.com account by entering an artist, album, genre, or song and it will select music of similar styles for me. I can then "like" or "dislike" each song, and it'll dynamically regenerate the playlist based on my likes and dislikes I have input into the station. This would be especially useful for tailgating so you almost get a "set it and forget it" kind of feature.

With Rhapsody, it allows Bleacher Bum to play any music he wants at any time and doesn't have to have it on his ipod to play it. This system offers him the ability to play any song he wants on-demand, whereas pandora doesn't because of licensing agreements with record labels.

Something else to consider... when you're tailgating, you really don't care THAT much about sound quality. You care more about being able to hear it. Theres also a 100% chance of most people within earshot of the music being intoxicated, so they couldn't give a damn about the quality to begin with

man...Last.fm is the ONLY way to go for streaming music. It's deeper, faster, has more songs than any other site. TRUST ME.

I've always used the iPod, but am constantly asked, "Dude, do you have....." To which I always reply, "No." This was just a quick fix to appeal to a broader group of fans. I'll still have my all-bluegrass tailgate....don't fret.

That one bluegrass tailgate day was awful...i enjoyed it for a few hours but we were a few spots down from you and man i was getting sick of it after a while. Then again i spent the night the night before there so maybe i was just really too drunk and tired to appreciate it.

Bluegrass is certainly an acquired taste. I could listen to it for a month straight without getting tired of it.

yes the wireless is a joke, i live in Gallucci too and some days I cannot even connect. Its ridiculous and even if I get connected it disconnects, then reconnects about every 5 min.

I'm sure no one is trying to improve it since i lived here last year and it was just as bad....