Ever since the start of term wifi in the Library seems to have been more than a little flakey. (This is reminding me of a former colleague who used to catalog books about 'whiffy'. Some mocked but it is apparently how the French say it in any case.)

Several of us with iPhones/iPods were struggling to connect and our IT guys told us it was because so many students now had mobile devices that wanted to connect, it was overloading the system. Of course it would be since the beginning of term as during the holidays there is hardly anyone here. An upgrade is promised - but not till January!

Well a fat lot of use that is.

What was odder was that it didn't merely seem to be a wifi issue. For starters I wondered if was my iPod - but others were getting the same and my connection to the wifi network at home was fine.

Then too, laptops seemed to connect with no trouble. At which point IT started blaming the Apple devices themselves.

The nearest I can make out is that a recent Apple upgrade to their OS may have made connecting to the particular kind of wifi network we have here difficult. Or something.

In any case, it's been a real pain as what I hadn't realized until now was just how much I was beginning to use the iPod/wifi for work. Here are just some of the things I realized I was struggling with:

Keeping abreast of other librarians work/interests/URLfinds via Twitter (much more convenient than via PC). *
Posting to the Library twitter feed. *
Tracking my shared email diary when away from PC (and email). *
Managing To Do lists.
Note taking via Evernote. @
PDF journal article reading via GoodReader (iPad will make this rather more doable).
Keeping abreast of ebook developments as part of book chapter writing etc. @
Able to do quick web look ups (Google, Library Catalogue) etc when away from PC. *
Handy to have a good dictionary to hand at all times! @
Collaborating with external academics via Skype. *
Ongoing CPD learning aided by flash cards.
Investigating FourSquare and utility for Library engagement with students. *

* = items which don't work without wifi
@ = items with reduced functionality without wifi


Anyway, I've noticed that over the latter half of last week and today, I seem to be able to connect again. So what's that about? (Not that I'm complaining.)