Move over, Lion Air, there is a new network on campus. In addition to a much-needed update of the standard Lion Air network, this semester marks the entrance of UNA Wi-Fi, said Randall Phifer, Network Services Manager for Information Technology Services.

“The reason we have the new Wi-Fi is because technology changes so fast,” Phifer said. “You have to constantly get the latest technology, and then it becomes outdated. Nothing stays current for too long.”

UNA Wi-Fi should be the first source for students to connect with, Phifer said.

“The one we prefer you connect to is UNA Wi-Fi,” Phifer said. “If it doesn’t work, then we want you to use Lion Air. There’s some technical issues with UNA Wi-Fi and some of the older Windows operating systems that may not allow an older version of Windows OS to work, but that’s why we have Lion Air out there, and it should work with any device.”

More attention will also be paid to broadcasting the new Wi-Fi, Phifer said.

“We’re going to get better coverage,” Phifer said. “We’re going to do a better job of finding the trouble areas and getting better coverage to those areas.”

UNA Wi-Fi seems to be more convenient, said Sarah Green, freshman.

“This weekend, I was in in the library, and I logged my computer onto UNA Wi-Fi,” Green said. “I also logged my phone onto there, and when I went to class today, I noticed that it was already connected. I really like that aspect of the connection.”

UNA Wi-Fi also has better coverage, Green said.

“It seems to work all over campus,” Green said. “I could even use it while I was at the Miss UNA Pageant. There’s also definitely a faster connection.”

The newer version of Lion Air should cover a larger part of campus, Phifer said.

“We’re going through three-by-three AP, which means it broadcasts on three different channels over three different antennas,” Phifer said.

“(It will) give us a wider broadcast range. Plus, it gives us the ability to connect more (individuals) to one AP.”

The older Lion Air was difficult to connect to with certain devices, said freshman Matt Morrison.w

“I’ve had trouble logging into (the previous) Lion Air with certain things because of the way it’s set up to block certain things,” Morrison said. “If I was on a computer, it would be fine, but there’s some things that shouldn’t be blocked, that had nothing to do with (possibly damaging the connection). My Kindle, or certain phones wouldn’t connect to it.

Lion Air’s log in screen has also been inconvenient in the past, said Christi Vedder, a sophomore.

“I don’t use the Lion Air,” Vedder said. “I use the UNA WiFi because you don’t have to log into it every time you open your phone. It’s a hassle to log on to it.

Overall, the upgrade to a better Lion Air is noticeably different, said Boiie Ye, graduate student.

“I think it’s better than the former one ,” Ye said. “It’s kind of faster. It was a necessary change.”