Over the past few weeks, campus Wi-Fi has been unstable, causing frustration and concern among students at a time of high academic stress. Many of the disruptions come from problems connecting to eduroam, which is the secure Wi-Fi network used by Brandeis and many universities worldwide.

Eduroam is a worldwide roaming access service that allows students to access the internet on its nearly 100 participating campuses in the United States, including Brandeis University. Educational institutions use eduroam because it offers the most secure encryption among today's networks. However, network disruptions have occurred across different U.S. campuses in recent months. Cornell University has reported Wi-Fi network outages since January 2026, which have hindered students' ability to complete coursework. Drake University has also recently experienced network connectivity issues in specific areas of its campus.

On March 6, several students provided written responses to The Justice, sharing their experiences and the challenges they have been facing during the eduroam network disruptions. Edward Lopez ’27 said he experienced Wi-Fi connectivity issues for the first time when he returned from February break. “There would be days when I didn’t have access to Wi-Fi at my dorm or in class. It was frustrating because I wouldn’t be able to do homework or participate in class activities until the Wi-Fi came back on,” Lopez shared.

Students reported that the connectivity problems have occurred across campus. “It mostly happens when I am in my room, but it has happened a few times on campus as well. I connect to Wi-Fi and then my computer just keeps disconnecting, and once, it stopped me from being able to participate in class because I just couldn’t pull up my notes,” Vanessa Langer ’27 wrote.

Wi-Fi disruptions have been especially challenging for students during midterm season, as they have had to spend extra time studying for exams and completing assignments. “I was studying for my midterm and had to confirm some information online, but when I tried, the Wi-Fi didn’t respond. I had to switch to [a] phone hotspot, but the data speed on campus is terrible,” graduate student Anant Rose ’27 reported.

A student from the class of 2027 shared that exams and quizzes have been more stressful than usual. “I was in class the other day, taking a quiz for a sociology class. I had to use the TA’s Wi-Fi because the Wi-Fi wasn’t working at all. With midterms and papers, this isn’t what I need at all,” they said.

During class time, connectivity issues remain problematic for students, preventing them from participating effectively and causing additional stress. Students also reported being late to meetings, which has affected their daily schedules. “The Wi-Fi has bothered me a few times, especially while I am opening up my laptop to take notes in class and have to spend several minutes troubleshooting, potentially missing important things in class,” Avery Bishop ’26 said. 

“I have had to use my phone hotspot frequently and have unfortunately been late to several meetings due to the inability to connect to the Wi-Fi. It’s been difficult for students with busy schedules who have small moments of free time and rely on working quickly with reliable Wi-Fi,” one student shared.

Daniel Liang ’28 shared his observations on how the Wi-Fi disruptions have affected the overall academic life of students. “The recent Wi-Fi disruptions on campus have been frustrating, especially when they affect access to essential Brandeis sites like Moodle and Workday. It’s particularly stressful when you have a time-sensitive assignment. The connection sometimes improves during parts of the day, but it’s usually weakest at night.”

“Having the Wi-Fi crash out has been a really big concern. I need to get in contact, not just with my parents and friends, but also with my professors and advisors in Hillel. In addition, it’s frustrating when I have professors asking me to open a certain document in class and things are not opening. We have to either reroute our class, or I have to figure out how to pre-download them to my desktop,” a student majoring in Education Studies said.

In a March 5 written statement to The Justice, Ian Rifkin, Associate Chief Information Officer for Infrastructure and Security, provided insights into the Wi-Fi connectivity disruptions on campus. “The first report we received was on February 13, 2026. Since then, Information and Technology Services has been investigating intermittent Wi-Fi connectivity issues affecting some users and working with our networking vendors to identify and resolve the underlying cause,” said Rifkin. Unlike some other campuses, the network outages at Brandeis have not been associated with a particular building or area, thus showing that the disruptions have been widespread at the University. As Brandeis ITS investigates the issues, Rifkin noted that the Wi-Fi connectivity problems appear “to be specific to the local network environment at Brandeis.” 

Currently, Brandeis ITS employs over 70 staff members. The team is headed by University CIO Jim La Creta and is organized into four main groups: Data amd Systems Integration, IT Planning and Operations, Client Technology Group and Networks and Systems and Security. The University website states that one of the key services of the Networks, Systems and Security group is “constantly working to improve network access on campus.” 

Contrary to what students have shared, Rifkin said that the ITS team “has not seen widespread disruption to classrooms or administrative operations. Most reports involve individual devices taking longer than usual to connect to Wi-Fi rather than sustained outages. When issues are reported, the ITS Client Services team works with users to restore connectivity as quickly as possible.” Rifkin reassured the Brandeis community that the network team is actively working on investigating the Wi-Fi connectivity issue on campus and finding ways to address it. 

“Because changes to the campus wireless network can affect many thousands of devices, updates are implemented carefully to ensure they resolve the issue without introducing additional disruptions. We are also expanding our network monitoring to better track wireless performance and confirm the effectiveness of any changes,” Rifkin said.

If students are experiencing network disruptions, they can report them to ITS Client Services through their website or by emailing help@brandeis.edu. Rifkin encouraged students to report issues, even if they have been resolved on their own, so that the ITS team can better understand the ongoing issues and find patterns.

As ITS continues investigating the issue, students say they hope the disruptions will be resolved soon so they can focus on coursework during the busy midterm period.