Access difficulties with Penn State's WebMail system have had students and faculty -- including the manager of ResCom -- spending more than a couple of minutes checking their e-mail messages lately.

Patrick Wykoff, Residential Computing (ResCom) manager, said via e-mail that he has had personal difficulties with WebMail and has seen several others having similar problems.

Wykoff said he tried to access his WebMail account last week without any luck.

"After becoming very irritated, I logged off and began to leave," he said.

Students have contacted ResCom offices asking why WebMail has been taking so long to load, Wykoff said.

"We have had several complaints ourselves ... about the unpredictable behavior of the PSU WebMail access," Wykoff said.

Robin Anderson, Information Technology Services (ITS) spokeswoman, said via e-mail that many students experienced log-on issues at the beginning of the semester because of the number of students who were being added to the system.

But Anderson said these problems have been addressed. "Students shouldn't be continuing to experience these kinds of problems," she said.

James Coakley, who works at the Findlay Commons ResCom desk, said he heard more complaints about WebMail than usual, and he assumes there are more people who were having problems but don't come to the ResCom desk to complain.

However, he said there is nothing ResCom can do about WebMail, since ITS handles the program.

Andy Rocus, who works at the Warnock ResCom desk, said he hasn't heard more complaints than usual, but he does hear them from time to time.

"WebMail is not designed to be a primary e-mail client," Rocus said, adding that it is possible too many people are relying on the e-mail service.

Anderson said the ITS e-mail servers transfer about 3.5 million e-mail messages a day and 1 to 4 million pieces of spam e-mail messages a day for more than 70,000 people. ITS data shows that more than 75 percent of the student body uses WebMail.

Anderson said students can use programs such as Eudora, Outlook or Thunderbird to check their e-mail, but she said those types of programs don't offer the convenience many students have indicated they want. With WebMail, students can check their e-mail anywhere they can access a Web browser. "The trend continues to be that most students use WebMail, and with each freshman class, that percentage seems to be increasing," Anderson said.

Carissa Monroig (junior-Italian and French) said it takes her five minutes to get onto the access page, but she prefers WebMail's setup to some of the e-mail server alternatives.

"It's easier for me to look at stuff," she said.

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said he hasn't heard any complaints about WebMail in the administrative offices but added that no one in the administrative offices uses WebMail for communication.

"ITS has projects underway to significantly improve both the speed and the usability of WebMail," Anderson said. "These projects have not been underway long enough to make any projections, but it is one of our highest priorities in ITS."