Affordable broadband for students

Less than 5 percent of university students own computers
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huh :confused: how is putting wireless hotspots on campuses going to change that exactly??
 
I would have thought reducing the cost of notebooks, think of something like they have students discounts in the states.. depending on major u qualify for different machine spec discounts.

Most universities have wifi networks in experimental phases some in full use, bandwidth is often just linked into their student account of the university. So yah, machines are more of the problem than net access per say. labs at universities always have capacity issues too.
 
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In many cases universities will overcharge students for usage...many students don't even own a notebook..so what percentage of people will it benefit? The rich aka upper middle class....I guess it is in line with the way this country is going anyway.

They should have allocated the money for better access to services to all students. More computers (I remember struggling to find one at Tuks) and faster speeds I say.
 
Wits is starting to sort itself out with 24 hour labs cos people just dont have machines to connect to the internet. They need to be selling those netbooks really cheap, maybe then kids can get onto their wireless. This seems like a waste. Also universities provide free internet (wits atleast does) in the libraries. Just plug in a network cable and login!! So cutting costs for wifi would mean charging for internet ?
 
Tuks has wireless hotspots which if you use the Novell client, are able to connect to the internet and for those that don't have computers, there are 24-hour labs available and there are computers for the whole engineering department there too.
 
aadil said:
good question.

They should be providing Universities cheaper access. That's the key.
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Internet Solutions actually is assisting in providing the Universities with cheaper internet access. They currently supply the international portion of the TENET Gen3 network, as well as assisted in facilitating the cutover from the Telkom Gen2 network, amongst other services.

Despite the above, I agree that it's still unclear how more wifi hotspots are going to supply more people with computers, but perhaps that was a mistake by the author?
 
froot said:
Tuks has wireless hotspots which if you use the Novell client, are able to connect to the internet and for those that don't have computers, there are 24-hour labs available and there are computers for the whole engineering department there too.
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AFAIK the number of students exceed the number of computers available on campus. The Engineers are only a subset of the student demographic and by no means account for the majority of students who need access to the internet on campus. (What I am saying is what is your point??)
 
incaseofire said:
the majority of students who need access to the internet on campus.
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Could you please qualify that statement.. What do all these students need internet for?

It would be great if the universities could afford to give every student a computer and loads of free internet but that costs a lot.
 
Why should students have cheaper internet access than anyone else ?

The cost of downloading movies should be the same for all.
 
Nowadays students need access to computers on campus for document products, research(besides facebook), email etc. Science students + engineering are more particular with specific software while others don't always.

Anyway I don't see why laptop manufacturers don;t provide it for a lot cheaper for SA students, even a lot of microsoft software you can get a hold of for free to next to nothing pending the faculty you in. Its a good way to get you products entrenched into their lives early on and if its done for 1st yr students, after 3 to 5yrs they will need a new notebook and chances are people will stick with the brand name they used.
 
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