Iowa State plans to shed some of its Internet cables in an effort to go wireless in the next two to three years.

John Kingland, director of telecommunications for Iowa State, said the public areas and conference rooms are the main priority in the move to go wireless.

“Right now, our outdoor wireless areas are between the Memorial Union and MacKay Hall and also Alumni Hall and Parks Library,” Kingland said.

The new wireless technology will be most useful for mobile computing, he said.

“It’s not a priority to remove all the wired infrastructure,” Kingland said.

“ISU has a very good wired infrastructure, and the telecommunications department is not looking to remove all that.”

Security and performance issues are another reason Iowa State has decided to keep land lines in department offices, residence halls and other locations.

Some of the buildings on campus have walls that radio waves can’t penetrate so wireless Internet will not work, Kingland said. An example of this situation could be a white board in a classroom that has a foil liner behind it, which would be difficult for a radio wave to go through.

“We are installing wireless now on a case-to-case basis,” Kingland said. Kingland expects the total cost of converting the campus to wireless to be between $100,000 and $200,000 per year.

The process for setting up older computers to this new wireless system will simply involve adding a new network card to a particular machine, he added.

Joel Geske, associate professor in journalism and communications, said everyone having laptop computers and being connected to the Internet during lectures could be an advantage in the classroom.

“It is hard for a university like Iowa State to require students to have a laptop, whereas other private schools have financial control and can do that,” he said.

Some campuses, like Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, have already gone wireless.

Ken Clipperton, managing director of Informational Services at Buena Vista, said the university spent close to $150,000 in updating their system to include wireless capabilities.

“A wireless system is very beneficial to us because every student and faculty member receives a laptop,” Clipperton said.

Buena Vista went cords-free in August 2000, turning its 60-acre campus wireless, indoors and outdoors.