The cable situation at the Trinity Apartments has caused an upset among Capital students. From different amounts of channels to varying troubleshooting and technical assistance, there is a clear difference in the service that some students are receiving.
The Bexley campus is on what is known as a Pro Idiom Digital System (Pro I).
“This system allows Spectrum, the cable provider, to transmit HD programming content to all residence halls rooms without the need for a cable box,” Annette Short, the associate director of IT, said. “Pro I content feeds are secured and protected because the signals are encrypted by Spectrum … The Pro I system has about 80+ channels including CapTV, which is our campus television network on channel 2.”
Short also mentioned that the Trinity Apartments have roughly 40+ channels and no CapTV.
Since the apartments are not directly connected to main campus, they are on a different cable plan, which is a basic business service.
“There is no difference in the cable signal quality as all channels are HD,” Short said.
In previous years, cable was the responsibility of those living in Trinity. Now, however, Capital has a bulk account through Spectrum to be transmitted to all student housing.
“Connecting the apartments to the campus infrastructure can occur after Capital University owns the Trinity Apartments and completes the ongoing Master Planning process to determine long term needs and uses for the buildings and property,” Short said. “Once a plan has been formulated to address the issue, this information will be shared with the campus community.”
The students who live in Trinity are understandably unhappy with this transition.
“I’m very upset with the ‘service’ provided to students living in Trinity housing,” said Seth Martin, a junior Trinity resident. “The shabby service and lack of communication [are] extremely frustrating, especially given the immense amount of money students pay to live here.”
“We pay all this tuition for us to get a cable plan that is terrible. . . if we want to upgrade to a better plan, it costs extra,” said Destiny White, another Trinity resident.
Not only do they have to pay the new technology fee and get less substance for their money than the other students, but they have to take matters into their own hands when seeking technical assistance. They must initiate the service call directly with Spectrum to handle tier I, II, and III problems. They need all of their account information, which can be obtained through residence life or IT.
“I paid more than everyone else for an apartment off campus but yet got treated worse than everyone else,” Desiree Bray, a sophomore student and Trinity resident, said. “We continue on living with our complains not being heard.”
