JCU says no Wi- Fi worries

JAMES Cook University has denied claims its award- winning The Science Place building has Wi- Fi connectivity and phone reception issues due to its design.

The Bulletin has been told some staff were refusing to move into the $ 80 million, state- of- the- art building because of alleged communication issues.

The five- storey facility, built by Lendlease and opened this year, features extensive aluminium and timber sunshading on all levels.

It also features copper cladding on the collaborative lecture theatre.

A JCU spokesman said the Wi- Fi system was designed by a professional accredited wireless design company.

“JCU’s ICT Infrastructure Services team hasn’t received any reports of problems with the system,” he said.

“The building has very high coverage of high- speed Wi- Fi.

“Testing of the building’s Wi- Fi during normal workload conditions ( on Monday) recorded fast internet speeds: 80Mbps upload and 30Mbps download.”

However the spokesman said JCU was working with Telstra to strengthen mobile phone coverage within the building.

“We will shortly install ‘ mobile 4GX extenders’ to strengthen mobile phone access,” he said.

“The Science Place is fully occupied and we are not aware of any academics refusing to move into the building.

“The Science Place was re- cently awarded Project of the Year by Master Builders North Queensland.”

However a source has told the Bulletin that a number of staff had refused to move in because of Wi- Fi related issues.

“They were having to redesign some of the exterior of the building,” the source said.

“There was a similar issue up at Education Central.

“The much- touted connectivity really hasn’t been happening.”

The source said that staff had complained that the building had multiple design issues.

“It was due to open in OWeek at the start of the year but didn’t really open until April,” the source said.

“There is definitely a design issue, there’s no staff upstairs.”

Lendlease did not provide comment.