- Sydnie Balcer
The WiFi Upgrade Project at SWOSU
Updated: Jan 15
Students may have noticed or heard about changes to SWOSU’s wifi networks: here are the details.

By Sydnie Balcer
News Reporter
Since February of 2020, the SWOSU Information Technology Services office has been working on a wifi improvement project for the SWOSU campuses that is meant to improve the campus's overall internet connection and phase out the SWOSU-Air wifi network.
Here are the changes that have been made to the SWOSU wifi as of October 2020, along with issues that hindered the project’s timeline:
February:
Purchased access points
Scheduled 327 access points to be installed
March:
Campus was shut down
Building infrastructure for the WiFi project began, which focused on Stewart Hall, Oklahoma Hall, Neff Hall, and Mann North. Building infrastructure includes:
Purchasing and configuring network switches
Running network cabling in buildings
Building a new wiring closet
Installing access points
April & May:
Campus was still shut down
ITS assisted approximately 400 SWOSU employees in being able to work remotely
Building infrastructure for the WiFi project continued
June:
ITS deployed 150 Dell Lease to employees
Building infrastructure for the WiFi project continued
July:
Dian Rat became the new ITS Director
Switches were purchased, but put on back-order due to COVID-19
Building infrastructure for the WiFi project continued
August:
ITS began installing switches
September:
Access points were stabilized
301 access points were installed
October:
Kicked off the Switch Upgrade Project:
Began building infrastructure for the Switch Upgrade Project, which covers all SWOSU buildings
Continued working on installing the rest of the access points with the most recent installations in the Student Union and the second floor of the Al Harris Library
Upgraded the WiFi to facilitate athletic events at the Baseball Batting Barn
The future plans in the WiFi Project are:
Getting comprehensive classroom WiFi coverage
Upgrading Alma Mater Merc WiFi coverage
Upgrading the WiFi coverage in Black Kettle Hall
Upgrading the WiFi coverage on the SWOSU Sayre campus
“The WiFi project has been very challenging, throwing COVID-19 on top of it,” SWOSU ITS Director Dian Ray said. “ We had 400 employees we had to assist with working from home, which took a lot of time from building the infrastructure.”
ITS also continues to handle address student and faculty issues around campus while still working on the WiFi Project, one of 48 projects that they are currently working on.
Many of the projects ITS works on can take a year or more to complete. According to Ray, upgrading the switches alone will be about a 12-month project because installing new switches requires ITS to shut the entire building they are working on down.
Despite how busy ITS can get, students and faculty are highly encouraged to call or email the ITS help desk, or submit help desk tickets if they are experiencing any issues with their internet or technology.
“We really encourage students to talk to us about issues we’re having,” Tiffany Hiessen, SWOSU ITS help desk specialist, said. “If you call us or make a ticket, we’re gonna get with you. I always contact them before the end of the day.”
When calling or emailing ITS or submitting help desk tickets, students are asked to let staff know what building they are in, what room number they are in, and what floor they are on. This allows ITS to directly address the problem without having to recreate scenarios in order to test issues.
Students can contact ITS with any issues or questions via phone at 580-774-7070 or via email at helpdesk@swosu.edu.