Emory's wireless internet service "EmoryUnplugged" has been experiencing outages and "spotty coverage" in the last two days, according to Emory Deputy Chief Information Officer Brett Coryell.
As part of a year-long project to update the foundation of Emory's network, University Technology Services (UTS) performed equipment upgrades during the weekend that have led to some instability in the wireless network, Coryell wrote in an email to the Wheel.
UTS has been working around the clock in an effort to bring the system back to full functionality, according to Coryell.
"We are working with Cisco technicians and another consulting firm to diagnose the symptoms and distinguish between the possible root causes," Coryell wrote.
Many students on campus had course enrollment times through the OPUS system that they were unable to complete on campus due to the issues with the network.
College sophomore Madhav Valla expressed his frustration with the lack of connectivity especially during student enrollment times.
"It is mind shocking to me that on top of having an incredibly flawed system for registering for classes that the administration neglected to inform students about the wireless connectivity issues that they expected when a large group of students were in fact registering for classes today," Valla wrote in an email to the Wheel. "When you pay $60,000 a year in tuition, you expect to be able to take the classes you need to take, and when the administration further inconveniences you, and you find out they actively withheld something so big from you its definitely more than disappointing."
Coryell wrote that a different aspect of his department has been in touch with the teams on campus keeping them informed regarding the availability of OPUS and other systems so "that the right offices can decide whether to adjust various deadlines."
He wrote that the technology team implemented changes Sunday night that were intended to keep the network stable. However, those changes did not hold through to Monday.
"The team is unwinding those changes and hopes that by Tuesday morning, we will be back to the state we were in last week, which students should find stable," Coryell wrote.
He noted that these changes will need to be attempted again as they are "absolutely required in order to upgrade the network and replace aging equipment."
Coryell wrote that he and his team have been working for the past several years to try and bolster the wireless system and turn it into a high quality experience.
"I think that's worked out pretty well until just recently," Coryell wrote.
Coryell said Emory's network is incredibly complicated. He added that the system has more than 5,000 pieces of equipment in more than 600 locations and the network is self-interactive and tries to heal or protect itself from various problems.
"Most of the time this works great; however, it can mask some kinds of problems and make troubleshooting very difficult," Coryell wrote. "I would like to ask for patience as we work hard to do these upgrades, and I would like to apologize to all members of the Emory community for the disruption this is causing."
The Wheel obtained an email sent by Coryell to the IT Planning council on Oct. 31.
The email explained, "All year UTS has been doing work to either prepare for or move through various phases of replacing the core routers. This change continues those efforts and will definitely cause unavoidable downtime for systems attached to certain routers."
Coryell said that students were not notified of the ongoing maintenance and subsequent outages because "there isn't a practical mechanism for regularly communicating technical changes to all students."
He added that he will have his department study and implement better ways to communicate with students regarding technical changes.
Other students were not only concerned with the inability to connect to OPUS to register but rather with the overall lack of Internet and subsequent issues.
"I think we certainly live in a highly connected digital world and maintaining that connectivity at all times is increasingly important especially as more of our coursework and University management moves online," College sophomore Jon Darby said. "I think one of the priorities of the University should be to ensure that that connectivity remains at all times."
Features Editor Nicholas Bradley and Assistant News Editor Rupsha Basu contributed reporting.
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