Caius internet fiasco

All Gonville and Caius' accommodations were without Internet last weekend, causing widespread disruption and student frustration.

The Internet went down at some point on Friday but the problem with the server was only repaired on Monday morning.

The disruption has caused tension in the college between students and Richard Pettit, the Computer Officer, due to the length of time that it took for the problem to be fixed and the problems that this caused over the weekend.

The Computer Officer explained: "I would just like to remind you all that we, in the Computer Office, do not work at the weekend."

This did not satisfy some students, however. Caians have also complained that they were not kept informed about what was happening.

Mr Pettit commented in an email on Monday to all students: "To some of you - you could usefully use the word 'Please' in your emails. We do not appreciate some of the peremptory demands that we receive."

A Caius second-year told The Cambridge Student (TCS) that they thought this email was "defensive and unproductively so".

The disruption was made worse by the fact that the University Library and many faculty libraries are closed on Sundays.

Access could still be found in the main college computer room as these computers use the Public Workstation Facility (PWF) system, and not that of the college. However, excess demand meant that there was an insufficient number of computers for everyone.

Mr Pettit explained: "The disruption to the network at the weekend was caused by a problem with the DHCP server within the Firerack Network Management System.

"It has now been fixed by the vendor as it turned out that it wasn't something that we could have done ourselves."

This is not the first time this year that Caius has suffered from disruption to their Internet access.

During the first few weeks of last term, all the students living in Caius' accommodation on Mortimer Road were without Internet.

Andrew Georgiou  - Deputy News Editor