Just as everyone was beginning to get used to life back at school, a temporary Internet connection loss last Wednesday left some students unable to check their e-mail, surf the Web or chat with their friends via AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). The affected students had forgotten to re-register their computers through RES.net or didn't re-register properly.
Approximately 700 students failed to reapply by Feb. 1 or didn't reapply properly, resulting in a temporary loss of Internet access.
According to Chris Larthey, suppport specialist from Information Technology, "The date for reapplying (for R?S.net) was Feb. 1. Students who failed to reapply by this date lost their network connection".
To re-register, students must first log onto the Resnet website, tcnj.edu/~Resnet. Then, he or she must enter his or her hardware address at the bottom of the page and click "ADD." It takes approximately 24 hours for the application to process.
The reapplication deadline was initially set for last semester. It was then postponed to Feb. 1 due to the outbreak of the Blaster and Welchia viruses last year.
"We wanted to contain the virus problem before having students reapply for RES.net so there wasn't any confusion," Larthey said.
Students were notified of the postponement by e-mail last semester. But many simply forgot to re-register because the e-mail was sent so long ago.
"I got a heads up about applying," sophomore biology education major, John Wieme said. "But since the e-mail was sent to us so early, I forgot about it and didn't think about it again until I lost my connection." Wieme then said that he didn't understand why reapplying every year is necessary.
In defense of the re-registration process, Larthey said, "We require students to reapply every year so that we have an updated list of computers being used on campus." Then, computers that are no longer registered are removed from the system.
Despite the inconvenience caused by the Internet connection loss, RES.net worked hard to get everyone back online as quickly as possible. Any student that didn't reapply on time was added back into the system as soon as he or she re-registered his or her hardware address.
"It was annoying because I had some work to do and I'm an AIM addict," Jennifer Prizeman, sophomore women and gender studies major said.
According to Larthey, RES.net worked on the applications day and night Wednesday to get everyone hooked up to the Internet as soon as possible.
