Los Medanos College is in the process of a network infrastructure upgrade project that will include a change of the campus phones, new phone numbers and extensions for faculty and staff and new campus Wi-Fi.

An email sent out by LMC Vice President Kevin Horan said the implementation of the phones will take place during off-hours in order to minimize disruption and will be completed by the May 30 weekend. Each phone will receive a five-digit extension for calls within the district and a 10-digit direct dial phone number for calls outside the district.

“We have an old system that is fairly limiting and I think it is going to help faculty, staff and students have better access to information,” said LMC President Bob Kratochvil.

Kratochvil also added that a second stage project is in the works to get a phone in each classroom upon completion of the current upgrade.

The new Wi-Fi was activated Friday, April 18. Students can connect to the Wi-Fi network labeled “LMC Student” by logging into the InSite portal with your ID and password. The speed limits for a student are restricted to 5mb/sec with phones being timed out after 60 minutes of inactivity. There is no device limit for students as the devices are not registered.

LMC employees have no speed restriction and can register up to four devices to the Wi-Fi which is valid for a year before having to re-register. Guests can also connect to the Wi-Fi using a guest ID and password with a 1mb/sec speed restriction.

“We have had this commitment to have hotspots around the campus as much as we can. There are a variety of places where the availability has not been as good and we are working on that,” said Kratochvil.

While the new Wi-Fi should ultimately be beneficial to the school, some students have yet to see much of a difference.

“I use Wi-Fi probably every day and have not noticed a difference yet,” said Amber Griego.

Computer Center Technician James Spagnol said some students complained about some of its other problems.

I have had students already complain about the restriction on speed for students and the need for [software] installation,” said Spagnol.

More detailed instructions on the Wi-Fi can be found at 4cd.edu/wifi. For more information, contact Director of District Information Technology Satish Warrier at [email protected].