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ITS, Transportation can deliver Wi-Fi on buses

August 7, 2013

Photo of an NIU bus parked outside Altgled HallIn May, the NIU baseball team enjoyed access to Wi-Fi on the bus to the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Ohio.

Information Technology Services and NIU Transportation worked together to conduct a trial run of the service.

The students could connect to the Internet to attend to coursework, check email and view multimedia at broadband speeds.

Running the trial of the service provided NIU Transportation leaders with the feedback they needed to decide this was a great offering for all the student organizations and groups that use their services.

Putting Internet access into moving vehicles presents special problems. Chief among them is providing consistent Internet connectivity while moving at high speeds, yet the trial run met expectations.

Adding Wi-Fi to NIU buses keeps them competitive – commercial bus services offer Wi-Fi as one of their top amenities – and allows NIU students to stay connected academically and with extracurricular student life activities while on the road. Additional NIU charter buses will be equipped with Wi-Fi this fall.

For more information on how to take advantage of this new offering, email transportation@niu.edu.