Hoyas regularly raise concerns about campus facilities, ranging from limited dining options for students with dietary restrictions to difficulties with SwitchTech, an electric key service that was removed this school year due to technological failures. One service that stands out as notoriously unreliable is SaxaNet, the university’s primary wireless network.
Many students have noted that spotty Wi-Fi makes it hard to get work done. With the majority of assignments and readings existing exclusively online in places like Canvas, a stable internet has become a basic need.
Ben Ghatan (SFS ’26) has depended on the university’s SaxaNet Wi-Fi for more than three years. According to him, its spotty performance disrupts students’ studies, forcing himself and his peers to look for spots across campus with a reliable connection.
“SaxaNet, since my freshman year but notably this year, has gotten worse in that oftentimes my computer will not connect to SaxaNet and then I will just have to rely on GuestNet.” Ghatan said.
Though he’s noticed some improvement in recent weeks, Ghatan said that during the first half of the fall semester, internet outages were severe enough that he almost solely used GuestNet. This blocked him from printing on campus, which requires access to SaxaNet.
Laya Dammoju (SON ’29) says she experiences slow internet speeds throughout campus, but especially while working in the Intercultural Center.
“I noticed my laptop was not connecting to the internet that well,” Dammoju said. “But I think that’s because we’re underground, maybe?”
She hypothesizes that the slow speed might be caused by the network switching connections between different hubs across buildings, especially when making a call while walking around campus.
But the real problem, according to Professor of Computer Science Micah Sherr, is more complex.
“Running a university network is really hard. It’s one of the hardest networks I could think of,” Sherr said. “A bunch of things could go wrong. Someone could bring in some equipment— like a router or something like that from home—plug it in, and it might interfere with some of the [university] equipment.”
The university’s network is designed primarily for reliability and security, which sometimes comes at the cost of speed. Unlike home networks that handle a minimal amount of devices, or corporate networks where the equipment brought in is tightly controlled, university networks must function on a massive scale while remaining open to new devices and users.
Additionally, Main Campus has older buildings with thick walls that make it hard for Wi-Fi signals to propagate as hundreds of devices compete for limited access points.
The University Information Services team continually works to address any issues, but the growing number of connected devices, from laptops to smartwatches, puts stress on the network infrastructure, even with upgrades.
“A university network is 20,000 students arriving each day and bringing whatever devices that they brought in from home. Same thing with faculty and staff,” Sherr said “It’s extremely open.”
Unlike corporate or home networks that can heavily restrict which devices are allowed and block certain websites to control costs and enforce workplace policies, Georgetown deliberately keeps SaxaNet as open as possible. This means almost nothing is filtered, students and faculty can connect their devices and access any site, which supports academic freedom but makes the network harder to secure and keep consistently fast.
“Because the university’s mission is to expand knowledge, you don’t want to censor anything,” Sherr said. “And so you need to allow all the traffic through.”
When SaxaNet lags, many students switch to GuestNet—Georgetown’s open Wi-Fi network—as a quick temporary fix. Dammoju said she does the same, especially when attempting to buy tickets on CampusGroups for events like Rangila or Mr. Georgetown.
“It works much faster,” Dammoju said.
Though GuestNet can be convenient for short-term needs, Sherr warns that relying on the network for everyday use comes with risks. He emphasized that students should avoid using GuestNet and any public, open Wi-Fi networks when completing personal or sensitive tasks such as logging in to websites, banking, or shopping, as users are more vulnerable to hacking.
“It can pose privacy risks because your connection to GuestNet is not encrypted,” Sherr said.
Sherr said that when you use an open, unencrypted network like GuestNet, other people on that network can sometimes see what websites you’re visiting or even capture some of your information, including emails, documents and login credentials. Sherr describes Wi-Fi encryption as sending code between browsers, so a hacker can’t see what your activity on a specific site is even if they know that you’re on the site.
“Now, most connections are what are called end-to-end encrypted on the internet, which means that it’s encrypted between your browser and the server you’re encrypted to,” Sherr said.
SaxaNet, in contrast, uses encrypted connections to protect data that require a NetID and password, providing a much higher level of protection. Even if someone is nearby, they can’t easily see what you’re doing online.
Sherr said students often underestimate how much personal information flows through their devices on a daily basis, which is why secure connections are so important. Especially when in need of the internet during high traffic times, however, some still put security in the back seat.
Sherr advised that even though keeping tabs open and logged into is convenient, it’s safer to log out once the tabs are no longer needed, especially in public or shared areas. Logging out limits how long your device is exposed on an open network.
“I wouldn’t use a browser where you’re just constantly logged in to 100 sites and never go down,” Sherr said. “I think most people do that—you’re probably going to be fine—but if you want to be a little bit more safe, hit the logout button.”
While Hoyas continue to report intermittent outages of Wi-Fi on campus, Sherr views its performance more favorably, noting that these issues can be easily resolved with routine maintenance, such as router replacements.
He added that from what he’s seen, he believes the university invests adequately in its wireless infrastructure, countering the idea that the university might be skimping when it comes to funding the Wi-Fi.
“For the most part, in my opinion, SaxaNet is largely a success story,” Sherr said.
