The Hardin House

The Hardin House, located in Austin Texas, is a private women’s dormitory that has served University of Texas students since 1937. Complete with housemothers, housekeepers, and home-cooked meals — Hardin House is the perfect place for college girls located just three blocks from The University of Texas at Austin campus.

Having a tradition of quality and service for over sixty-eight years, offering premiere amenities to its residents is a priority. While Hardin House already offered services that are not found in many other student housing facilities nearby, requests for wireless access in each bedroom were increasing with each year. Consequently, to keep up with the student demand, Hardin approached Apogee to install a wall-to-wall wireless network on which students could rely.

Growing Demand for Wireless Access

Similar to Hardin House’s findings, Apogee also has seen an increase for wireless services among students. Currently the leader in providing residential network services to college and university communities, Apogee provides services to over 10,000 students across the country. In addition, wireless initiatives are taking priority within the higher education community. Today it is not uncommon to ind that plans for wireless networks are a critical part of the technological strategies at many schools. A recent survey found that nearly one-third of higher education classrooms now have wireless connectivity. As schools benefit from the increasing value of wireless networks on-campus, student expectations for wireless access back in their residence will continue to grow.

A Wireless Solution to Satisfy Students

Apogee was already the provider of Hardin House’s high-speed broadband network with wireless in the common areas. At the property’s request, the company was able to add-on a cost-effective wireless network in a fraction of the time that traditional deployments normally take. Several months after the installation was complete, Apogee rolled out a survey to all users on Hardin House’s Apogee network. The results were overwhelmingly positive and revealed insightful information about the perceived importance of Internet, and more specifically
wireless access to students today.

To start, the majority of Hardin residents surveyed (97%) used laptop computers. Consequently, it was not surprising to find that most of these users used wireless access; of these 91% used the wireless connection in their rooms. Residents utilized the wireless access in other locations at Hardin House as well, including Hardin’s computer lab, pool, and lounge are

Of the students who connected using the wireless service, 95% reported that having wireless access in their rooms was important to them.

Further, a large percentage (73%) indicated that wireless access was a key factor in selecting housing arrangement while in school. “Such data is further confirmation that we are moving in the right direction.” Stated Kathryn Parke, Hardin’s Administrative Director, about their wireless deployment.