Cable woes plague residents

By Christina Salvo

In recent years, cable difficulties have caused minimal problems for on-campus residents. However, since the beginning of school, cable connections have been a consistent problem. Poor reception, and at times no reception, have headed the complaints about the cable connections throughout campus.

"When I first hooked up the TV all I got was the network channels," said sophomore Emmalisa Sparrow, a resident in Alameda South. "I didn't get any of the cable channels I got last year in Graham but after fiddling with the wall connection for a while I managed to get the WB and UPN to come in with decent reception."

The inconsistency of the cable has left many residents weary when it comes time to tune into their favorite programs or a big televised event.

"Knowing the problems with the TVs, I did not want to take any chances on missing the game [World Series] so I went to watch it at my friend's house who lives off campus," said sophomore Jessy Wray, a resident of Alameda South.

Despite many of on campus students' concern about the inconsistent cable connections Rachel Connelly, residential facilities director, and Terry Benton, CATV services manager, believe these cable problems are almost all fixed.

"This year's cascading cable failures can be blamed on the age of the heading equipment," said Benton. "So far I am just waiting on some parts, but other than that the connections should not have anymore problems."

The equipment located in Media Services, which runs and allocates all the cable for the entire campus, is now eight years old. On top of the dated technology, the equipment is kept running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Despite the increasing age and wear of Santa Clara's cable equipment, the service has never been down for more than a day in the eight years of its existence until this year, said Benton.

Such statistics do affirm the systems reliability, but all electronics begin to depreciate in performance quality the moment they come out of the box.

"Most electronics sold in electronic stores are only accompanied with one year warranties. What does that tell you about the lifespan of electronics?" said Benton.

Although the aging cable equipment has plagued the entire campus, Sobrato and Alameda South have been most immediately affected by it. Unfortunately, the two residences are located at the end of the fiber line, which increases their susceptibility to poor cable reception.

The fiber line is the underground connection that connects the different buildings with the heading equipment in media services. Before Sobrato's connection is made, the fiber line is split 20 times running into other buildings and dorms. After Sobroto is served, the Alameda South are last to receive their connection. By this time the fiber line has run two and a half miles and has split over 20 times.

While these problems are unfortunate and frustrating, most students share junior Stella Palieo's view that cable isn't imperative in the dorms.

"My cable connection is a luxury, not a necessity," said Palieo.

Connelly shares this view and the housing budget reflects this hierarchy of connections.

When students pay their housing tuition an allotment goes to paying for utilities and among these utilities are electrical connections. The cable connection receives whatever money is left over once the internet and phone connections have been ensured to provide the most reliable service.

Although cable might rank on the bottom of Santa Clara's electrical hierarchy, the university's cable service is well above that of other campuses. The neighboring Stanford campus charges close to $250 more in room and board tuition than Santa Clara, but that extra money does not include fees for cable.

Instead, Stanford students must pay installation and monthly fees for cable service while Santa Clara students don't.

In 1995 Santa Clara bought its own privately owned cable television station. This purchase afforded students the advantage of not only cable channels, but a movie channel and campus-produced programs for no extra charges.