Beginning in the upcoming spring semester, Penn State will increase on-campus bandwidth limits by more than double the current amount as a response to the student body's concerns.
The normal four gigabytes of weekly download space will now be upped to 10 GB, university officials said.
"This increase is a regular part of ITS and Residential Computings' ongoing commitment to respond to student needs and provide a higher level of service and experience," Information Technology manager Marcus Robinson said.
But in an e-mail to student government leaders last week, Director of Information Systems Joel Weidner noted that the university will still be doing its part to monitor bandwidth activity on students' computers and added that the new download limit is fairly tentative.
"If the higher limits cause unforeseen, detrimental impacts to the university's networks, the weekly limits may have to be revised downward," he said in an e-mail.
Ultimately, Weidner said, the additional space is directed towards helping the student body,
"We are pleased to be able to make this change in response to student needs -- providing a higher level of service in all residence halls and allowing for network applications that have higher bandwidth requirements," he said in the e-mail.
And although there is now more leeway in internet usage, the same penalty and warning system is in place for students who surpass the 10 GB limit.
