Wireless zones recently have been extended to cover campus and Franklin Street, and wireless Internet access cards will be sold this year in the RAM Shop for the first time.
The RAM Shop's $150 sticker price is cheaper than what most other retail stores might charge for similar technology.
The cards can be installed by students themselves, but next year wireless Internet access cards will be standard equipment on all laptops purchased through the Carolina Computing Initiative.
Marian Moore, vice chancellor for information technology, said wireless technology will improve the quality of computing on campus. "If you need a computer for course work, you need access to that computer 24 hours a day," Moore said. "Your office includes the classroom, dorm, coffee shop and Lenoir."
Beginning with last year's incoming class, each freshman is required to purchase a laptop computer in accordance with CCI.
The program, envisioned by the late Chancellor Michael Hooker, aims to enhance education by keeping the University technologically competitive while reducing costs, Moore said.
The integration of wireless Internet connections began last year when access boxes were installed in the Pit and some classrooms, allowing laptop users with wireless cards to log on. Students could borrow the cards, which connect to laptops and receive radio waves from the access boxes, from various places on campus.
This year, access boxes have been placed to serve more of the campus, including almost every classroom building and parts of Franklin Street. "You could be sitting in Ye Olde Waffle Shop and be connected to the Internet," Moore said.
Moore said she thinks the entire campus could be wireless within five years.
