Several students interviewed by The Dartmouth said they had tried using Firefox while connected to all three campus wireless networks -- Dartmouth Secure, Dartmouth Public and Dartmouth Library Public -- but experienced the problems with Firefox each time. Most students said they had only encountered difficulty within the past few days, but others said the problems began as early as last month.
Several students expressed frustration because they cannot predict when the problems with Firefox will arise.
"It just happens randomly sometimes," Ali Hiller '11 said, adding that switching to Safari was problematic because she stores her list of favorite websites on her Firefox browser.
Alison Miller '10 had also been a regular Firefox user, she said, but began to encounter problems accessing several websites last month, particularly when viewing Facebook.com and NYTimes.com.
"I was left without news and procrastination tools for a couple days until I decided to switch to Safari," Miller said.
Dartmouth's Network Services was unaware of any current "network issues," Frank Archambeault, director of Network Services, said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. All trials conducted by his department had normal results, he added.
"If people were having trouble with the network, it could have been a one-time blip," Jeffrey Hawkins, the manager of Academic Consulting Services, which oversees the Student Computing Help Desk, told The Dartmouth in an e-mail. "There could also be an issue with a particular location on campus, which we want to hear about."
No students have sought assistance from the student help desk regarding this issues, according to Hawkins. Several students who had experienced problems said they had not gone to the help desk because it was easier to switch browsers.
This problem does not impact BlitzMail or instant messaging programs.
