Over The Edge Page 6 : March 20, 2000

RezNet Continued From Cover

available over the Internet.
One of the problems this
causes is that now, more
people know how and where
to get music and movie files,
and how to play games with
their friends over the Internet.
These activities have caused
the school’s quota for Internet
access to be grossly exceed-
ed.
In a month, UNBC pays to
receive 150 gigabytes (GB) if
information. With all Internet
activity from the Residence,
there is about 450 to 500 GB
of information coming in.
Most of these downloads are
MP3s, movies, and software.

The Internet connection at
UNBC was planned for a
business user; it was thought
that the Internet would be
used for research, and email.
It was never thought that
Residence students would be
downloading the music they
want, or playing computer
games with their friends. over
the Net. Five years ago, no
one know what an MP3 was.
There has been a huge
increase in the number of
people that know how to use
computers in the last few
years, and that is leading to
new, unforeseen problems.
The connection that UNBC
pays for should provide about
one hundred gigabytes (GB)
of information from the
Internet. Because of
Residence students down-
loading MP3 music files,
movie files, and playing
online games, about five
times this amount has been
accessed. The university will
have to pay extra at the end
of the year, because so much
more than that limit has been
used. At any given point in
time, about 60 to 75% of
Internet traffic at UNBC is
from the residence. UNBC
has only a T1 Internet con-
nection, which means that
while most desktops receive
about

CTS has been working on
solutions, one of which is to
charge Residence users
more for Internet services.
Right now, students only pay
a 25$ connection fee, which
covers the labor involved in
hooking up a student's con-

nection, and does not even
come close to paying for the
bandwidth the student uses.
Other possibilities include
installing programs to monitor
what students are doing
when they're online, placing
limitations on how much stu-
dents can download, having
the university pay for extra
internet access, and having

packages available so that
students can buy extra inter-
net time if they choose. There
are problems with some of
these solutions. Monitoring
what students are doing rais-
es privacy issues. The univer-
sity can’t justify paying for
students to download MP3’s.
Students are already
strapped for cash, and CTS

doesn’t want to charge stu-
dents for more money. If CTS
terminates the entire
Residence connection for the
rest of the year, as seems be
the case there will be some
very unhappy students in
Rez.

Over The Edge
needs you. If you
can string words
together in semi-

coherent sentances

you have the skills

to join Over The
Edge! Drop by our
Office across from
the Wintergarden
and see how little

we actually do!

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