The Wilkes University community has recently instituted a change in their wireless Internet access by developing a secure wireless network as an increased security benefit

Wilkes University officially made the switch from the open wireless “Guest.Wilkes.edu” network, to secure network on Feb. 25 .

Wilkes developed a project proposal to address the open guest wireless access at Wilkes. The previous situation was a security risk as people not associated with the Wilkes community had access to Wilkes’ network.

Wilkes University Project Director, Cindy Greene, developed the project proposal.

“The goal of the new wireless system is to provide access to the Wilkes community while securing the integrity of the campus network,” Greene said.

The Wilkes Community as a whole has had access to the unsecure “Guest” wireless network, which has resulted in slow connection for students.

The entire wireless network phase will consist of three steps.

The first phase will include adding a password requirement to the guest wireless.

The second phase will be to create a new wireless network secured by a password to address the devices that cannot connect to the “Wilkes.edu” network, but that require access to internal services.

The third and final phase would be to reduce the access on the “Guest” wireless to limited Internet activity.

The first phase started on Tuesday, Feb. 25.  The second phase is scheduled for the start of the fall semester and the final phase will take place in January 2015.

Students are experiencing mixed reactions to the recent change.

“It’s kind of a pain to have to continuously type in the password to access the network,” sophomore Devin Dunn said.  “However, if it ultimately speeds up the Internet, its worth the extra effort.”

If experiencing any difficulties with the Internet, consult the Wilkes online Technology Help Desk.