The quest has begun. I am in search of bandwidth. Where did it go? I don't know. Maybe it never existed.

Bandwidth is the amount of data that one can transfer over an Internet connection at any one point in time.

Penn State allegedly has a whole bunch of bandwidth, but I've never experienced the reliable, consistent connection that students on campus are apparently supposed to have.

The bandwidth problem seems to be getting bigger.

Residential Computing readily acknowledges in its Residence Hall Network Connection Agreement that "it is not Housing's intent to provide network resources that meet the academic needs of all students." The Office of Telecommunications won't apportion more bandwidth to these same connections, effectively giving the smallest dorm the same amount of bandwidth as a large dorm.

I empathize with off-campus students without a fast connection, since my connection is barely faster than a dial-up modem (if that).

Broadband connections seem, in general, to be going by the wayside. Seeing a provider of a broadband (high speed) Internet connection that continually loses money while in business and eventually closes up shop does not seem uncommon.

For those broadband Internet service providers still in business, it is often difficult to keep a reliable, high-speed service running.

Years ago, I remember technology entrepreneurs wildly proclaiming the great benefits that all of us would soon have as a direct result of a faster Internet connection.

My question to them is where is that connection.

Possibly, I'm being too hasty, and these connections are still to come. There is evidence to prove this theory.

Intel has recently released its new 802.11a wireless networking products. These products operate at speeds five times faster than previously available wireless devices running on the 802.11b standard. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has also introduced the new 802.11g standard, which will operate at the same speed as 802.11a, just at a different frequency. These speeds will only continue to climb in the near future.

Perhaps Penn State should look into wireless networking.

Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh has successfully implemented such technology and so has Drexel University in Philadelphia -- so why can't Penn State?

Groups in charge of technology on campus appear sometimes uncooperative.

These groups sometimes blame the problems on the students for running file-sharing applications on the network.

But I for one know that this cannot possibly be the explanation because we all know that would be illegal and that college students are all good law-abiding citizens.

This would be the perfect project to unite Residential Computing, the Center for Academic Computing, the Office of Telecommunications and the Office of Computer and Information Systems. Maybe even the two academic rivals computer science and information science and technology can join forces to help.

One thing I have learned in my first semester at Penn State is that a project completed as a group is always better than one completed by an individual, so long as everyone in all the groups works together for a common good.

Imagine the possibilities of collaborating to provide wireless Internet access: fast and reliable connections, no wires, extending the university network to students living off campus, no wires, being able to take a laptop anywhere on campus and surf the Internet, no wires.

Think about it.

Why not start the high-speed wireless revolution right here at Penn State?

We can handle it. After all, we are Penn State.

As for me, I will now continue my search for this ever-so-elusive bandwidth.