By Luis Rodriguez
Last week, St. Bonaventure officials blessed us with some good news and not-so-good news. The good news was that they would be tripling the internet bandwidth on campus. The not-so-good news is that to compensate for this change, they will be removing cable from all rooms
There are both positives and negatives to this change. The positive is that we can all watch Netflix at night without any buffering. Also, three minute videos will no longer take an hour to load. The Internet will finally become usable.
The downside to this change is that the only places that will have cable are the dorm lounges. Although students will have the option to purchase cable service directly from Time Warner, with all the money student have tied into Bonaventure buying cable is the last thing we want. If we are spending tens of thousands of dollars to dorm on campus, basic cable should be included in all of the rooms.
Now we can no longer watch our sports in the comfort of our own room. Lounges will become overcrowded, especially during major events. Without cable and faster internet, piracy on campus will rise.
Yes, faster internet will be beneficial to students and faculty on campus, but students should not lose cable in the process. The room and board fees students pay should include access to cable instead of having them pay for it separately.
One thing is for sure is that dorms such as Devereux Hall will not be needing high-definition cable because they are still equipped with boxes, excuse me, older televisions. The Robinson-Falconio dorms will be one of the few dorms with upgraded lounges to benefit from these new changes.
Not everyone prefers the same sport or the same team which will cause debate over what people want to watch in the limited lounges on campus.
Now there is one thing that Bonaventure should take into consideration: will the upgrade in internet support the need now for everyone to stream videos, shows and movies? Yes, if you upgrade it will be faster, but if you remove cable more people will stream videos and eat up the bandwidth.
Once, our cries used to be for faster internet. Now our cries become for cable. And who knows? Maybe our cries next semester will still be for faster internet. Only time will tell how this change in service will work.
