The top 10 applications used by UAB students. (Data courtesy of Ed Harris.)Tessa Case - Contributing writertessamc@uab.edu
It’s a familiar feeling for most students: it’s the last week of classes, the final paper for the class just didn’t make it to the printer, and the class begins in fifteen minutes. A full on sprint is made to the library computer, but it is taking what seems like an eternity to load and silent curses are dispersed amongst all the other computer users in the library. The question, then, is: what are students looking at in the library that is slowing the Wi-Fi down?
Ed Harris, assistant director of Systems and Server Support for UAB IT, provided a list of the top ten applications students are using while connected to UAB Wi-Fi. The number one position is general web usage along ports 80 through 443, which denotes general web traffic. The following includes:
Launched Feb. 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook quickly became one of the leading social media sites used to connect current and former friends, classmates, professors and a myriad of acquaintances. Facebook seems like a natural for the number two spot on the most used websites, if not to connect an individual to friends, events, or classmates who may have shown up for class the day you didn’t, it’s an easy and fun distraction from the stress typically associated with college life.
Netflix
Netflix has been around since 1997, providing easy access to a plethora of movies and television shows, including box office hits all the way to the obscure and unimaginable. What’s more convenient is that entire seasons of television shows are available for your binge-watching pleasure. At home, on your laptop, at the library, a number three ranking proves that Netflix’s popularity follows it wherever internet connection is available.
Dropbox
Let’s give our students some credit: Dropbox, an academic tool, made it to number four. Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by Dropbox Inc. It provides cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud and client software. UAB’s IT department describes the program as useful file sharing feature that can help clear up bandwidth since e-mailing large files can slow down the e-mail service, as well as take up major portions of the e-mail program’s allowed bandwidth. If you’ve never utilized this feature before, the link is: http://www.uab.edu/it/dropbox.
Pandora
Pandora is a music streaming site that, once a “radio station” is selected, automatically plays music of the same or similar genre, allowing users autonomy over their station to select songs they like, dislike or are tired of hearing of, all to have a new, enjoyable, customized listening experience catered to the user. Two options for streaming are available, including the free option supported by advertisements and the $4.99/month option with no advertisements.
Amazon Cloud Drive
Amazon Cloud Drive is a web-based storage plan provided by Amazon for photos, videos, documents, and more along its secure servers. This program is available to all computers with the latest Java and browser updates, as well as being available on Android and iOS phones.
Hulu
Implemented in March of 2007, Hulu is another streaming service where clips, television shows, movies and other media can be found. A free subscription to Hulu is offered, only available on PCs and laptops, as well as a subscription plan which eliminates ads. The service is also available to smart phones, televisions, internet connected game consoles and other devices. As of 2015, streaming for Hulu is only available in the United States, its oversea territories and Japan.
Port 16402
According to Apple’s support team, port 16402 is an open port used to allow FaceTime when utilizing the program along a protected network, such as UAB’s firewall, for extra security. Having this port open so that it is available to students is necessary, otherwise how would students in two different locations discuss what happened in class that day, the upcoming homework or what show or movie they’re streaming on the campus on computers?
Google Drive
Google drive is another web based file storing and sharing program. From Google Drive, files can be uploaded, stored and shared amongst approved members of a group where each person has the ability to edit papers, presentations, spread sheets, drawings, forms and more. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides. Up to 15GB of storage is free, each increase after that ranging from $1.99 (100 GB) to $299.99 (30 TB).
Bonjour
Developed by Apple, Bonjour is a zero-configuration network that can locate devices such as printers, other computers and the services these devices offer on a local network. While Bonjour comes available with Apple’s OS X and iOS operating systems, it can be installed to computers using Microsoft Windows.
Harris notes that this does not include the entirety of student browsing, because the dorm Wi-Fi is provided through an outside party.
