Duke Resolves Wi-Fi Hiccups

Duke University has been able to finally resolve the problem with the Cisco wi-fi network it was employing on campus. The problem caused some sort of incompatibility between the network and the Apple iPhones on campus, resulting in the phones sending an overwhelming number of address requests to the Cisco Wireless Access Points (WAPs).

In a statement, Cisco said it had been able to locate the cause of the problem in the Duke network, and had also been able to provide a solution. The statement, however, made no mention of the exact nature of the problem.

It was the university who issued a statement later on stating what the problem exactly was. According to the statement, specific conditions that had to do with the campus using a massive Cisco network led to the network shutting down at regular intervals. The statement was issued by the chief information officer of the campus, Tracy Futhey.

The university’s statement also said that Cisco had worked in tandem with Apple as well as the university to determine what the problem was. It also started looking for a solution promptly once it was determined the problem was with Cisco’s network.

At the initial stages of the investigation into the frequent network shutdowns, the problem was thought to be with the phones. This was because the problem, which seemed to be thousands of address requests, seemed to be emanating from the Apple iPhones.

Later on, however, the problem was found to be with the Cisco network, and not the Apple iPhones. Cisco issued this clarification, through a statement acknowledging the fault was actually with its network, and not the Apple iPhones.

The first time students faced the problem was sometime last week. At least 20 to 30 WAPs on campus were hit by the problem. The WAPs would shut down frequently, each time for a few minutes.

In an attempt to not expose totally the extent of the problem, university officials said the shutdowns were not for long enough periods of time to actually affect the students. The only way the disruptions were manifesting as problems was through slow Internet connections for certain users.

For now, it seems Duke University is the only one facing this problem. None of the other big universities seem to be having this problem.