{"id":6354,"date":"2021-05-21T09:30:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T14:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=6354"},"modified":"2021-05-21T09:30:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T14:30:18","slug":"uw-platteville-electrical-engineering-students-conduct-broadband-internet-technology-survey","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-platteville-electrical-engineering-students-conduct-broadband-internet-technology-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Platteville electrical engineering students conduct broadband internet technology survey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo
Dr. Xiaoguang Ma, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This past year, COVID-19 has brought many challenges for Wisconsinites, with one of the biggest struggles being internet access and network performances. To examine the issues, two University of Wisconsin-Platteville\u00a0electrical engineering<\/a>\u00a0students, Troy Januchowski and Jacob Hanacek, spent two semesters conducting an independent study with\u00a0Dr. Xiaoguang Ma<\/a>, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Jacob Hanacek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Januchowski and Hanacek developed a broadband internet technology survey with the content focused on five main areas: internet access technology, overall satisfaction of the internet service, advertised internet speed and actual internet speed, internet availability, and whether participants would pay more a month to upgrade their internet. The survey was sent to UW-Platteville faculty, staff and students with the data being broken down by zip code.<\/p>\n

\u201cJacob and Troy were able to learn the needed background knowledge and the appropriate method of solving the problem,\u201d said Ma. \u201cWe showed social awareness \u2013 our engineers need to be able to solve current societal problems. It\u2019s an excellent topic for them to study for the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Januchowski and Hanacek began their independent study by focusing on internet technologies and infrastructure and then developed the survey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it was an important topic for communities in Wisconsin, especially because of all the lockdowns that happened last year,\u201d said Januchowski, a senior from Madison, Wisconsin. \u201cThe lockdown caused us to rely on that [internet] connection more than we ever have before. It was a critical topic, and potentially it could help highlight some discrepancies across the state in the type of experiences people are having.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Troy Januchowski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen we were putting together our survey, I didn\u2019t know how many people would answer a survey about their internet service or how far of a reach it was going to have,\u201d added Hanacek, a senior from Crystal Lake, Illinois. \u201cWe had over 350 replies. I was excited that many people took our survey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data shows participants who have access to cable and fiber internet are more satisfied than those who have to rely on DSL or satellite. While cable and fiber are faster internet technologies, the study shows the unevenness between cable and fiber internet development across the state, impacting rural areas. According to Hanacek, survey results show people are willing to pay up to $30 more a month for better internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to cable or DSL, a lot of the infrastructure is already there, and it\u2019s pretty extensive. It would need to be upgraded,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, if companies want to start supplying people with fiber, it will involve a whole new infrastructure and installing new lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

When analyzing Southwest Wisconsin, Januchowski said Platteville and the surrounding area had nearly all the internet technology they were surveying: fiber, cable, DSL, and satellite. The results showed more satisfied customers with the cable but also some unexpected findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a higher-than-average satisfaction for satellite customers in Platteville versus the other counties surveyed,\u201d said Januchowski. \u201cThere were certain pieces of data that didn\u2019t meet our expectations \u2013 it\u2019s not particularly clear on the data, but we see some inconsistencies there. Platteville is where most of our data came from. It\u2019s the highest concentration of responses, so that could have played a part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Januchowski and Hanacek hope their data visualization will bring awareness to issues that so many community members face with internet performances across the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it causes a more proactive approach to dealing with these discrepancies, whether it be discrepancies in advertising versus actual speed or uneven development throughout Wisconsin,\u201d said Januchowski. \u201cPeople are willing to pay more for better infrastructure. I hope people continue to do studies like this and continue to reach out to their local representatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanacek points out it\u2019s up to the consumers to be vocal about wanting change.<\/p>\n

\u201cData shows if the internet service isn\u2019t quite what you want, it\u2019s up to you to fix it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are hoping it helps people realize if they want better internet, it\u2019s important to hold internet companies responsible for providing that to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Image
Survey responses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Image
Speed results<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Image
Satisfaction per zip code<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Image
Willing to pay more<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past year, COVID-19 has brought many challenges for Wisconsinites, with one of the biggest struggles being internet access and network performances. To examine the issues, two University of Wisconsin-Platteville\u00a0electrical engineering\u00a0students, Troy Januchowski and Jacob Hanacek, spent two semesters conducting an independent study with\u00a0Dr. Xiaoguang Ma, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. Januchowski and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":6367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[93],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-6354","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-platteville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/6354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=6354"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=6354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}