Internet connection was down in Haskell Hall from the end of Spring Break until late last week, in the most recent in a series of Internet service problems for downhill dorms.
The Internet failure in Haskell was caused by technical malfunctions in the electronic devices that serve dormitory Ethernet connection, according to Director of Networks and Communications Lesley Tolman.
On-campus Internet and phone services are provided by CampusLink - purchased last fall by the national company PaeTec Communications, Inc. - which is responsible for equipment-related problems within Tufts dorms.
Because there was a failure of electronics in the entire dorm, Internet service was lost throughout all of Haskell rather than in selected rooms or individual floors, which forced the University immediately to contact CampusLink, according to Tolman.
"CampusLink-Paetec figures centrally into this story," Tolman said. "We went through the normal trouble-reporting procedures to CampusLink and put in an emergency report because of the loss of connection for all students in an entire dorm."
In this type of wide-scale service disruption, CampusLink is required to respond within four hours, Tolman said. But the spare equipment that should have been used in the case of connection failure was not functional, and a series of errors further complicated the process of obtaining replacement equipment, rendering Haskell residents without Internet and Ethernet access over the course of several days.
"We at Tufts finally took one of our own technicians to do the job because PaeTec was taking too long," Tolman said. Functional spare equipment found in Latin Way was used to solve the problem.
The Internet problems in Haskell were only the most recent in a series of incidents involving faulty connections in downhill dorms this semester, including Metcalf and Bush halls.
Tolman said Internet difficulties are a result of old equipment and the technical errors arising from the wear and tear of the wiring devices that provide service to the dorms. New equipment was installed in the fall of 1995, and though the University has taken steps to fix different parts of the system, no full renovation of Internet equipment has taken place for six years.
"It's very likely that the equipment in Haskell is five-and-a-half years old," Tolman said. "Every time this happens, there is the normal deconstruction of what happens, and then we try to elevate our own vigilance," she said.
There is a possibility that the University will reconsider its arrangement with PaeTec once its eight-year contract terminates in two years, and Tolman said Tufts has begun looking at other options for service companies.
"We've gone through a bunch of attempts to minimize the ways in which we cause problems for students," she said.
