Austin Community College District (ACC) employees, students, and visitors on the Rio Grande Campus are enjoying a major Wi-Fi boost after the College started making upgrades to the wireless network this past fall.
The installation was led by ACC’s Information Technology (IT) Department, which took a phased approach. Starting in September 2026, Phase I included swapping out 119 wireless access points throughout buildings 1000 and 3000 with new, faster ones.
With better access and faster download times, classes that were relocated due to a lack of coverage have now been moved back to their regular classrooms, and the ACC Police Department reported that its video download times were cut in half.
To support the new technology, the team set up backup systems at both ACC data centers for redundancy. As part of the overall solution, the team now has access to dashboards that show utilization, equipment health, and diagnostic data, and can see how the data is being consumed (e.g., for streaming services, collaboration tools, etc.).
In Phase 2, the team added 60 additional access points to the buildings in an effort to further improve overall coverage and performance.
What’s Next
Rio Grande served as the proof of concept for the College’s new wireless design. The goal is for the new wireless design to become the standard across all ACC campuses. It has since been deployed at the new Lockhart Center.
“Rio Grande was chosen as a pilot for this new technology based on size, a complex user base, and historical complaints. Based on its success, the Network team is currently establishing a roadmap to roll this out across the College,” says Deputy Chief Information Officer April Justice. “The rollout will be phased and will depend on factors such as campus priorities, infrastructure readiness, and available funding.”
IT will provide updates as it continues to refine the plan and timelines.