Students rejoiced Friday morning when they discovered that the school had made a Wi-Fi network available to them, after weeks of the only existing network requiring an unavailable password.

Students had access to Wi-Fi for a majority of the year until the IT staff changed the password because too many devices were connected to the network.

After much student outrage, the new network “MCPSStudent” has been made password-free. Before connecting, it requires users to accept MCPS terms and conditions, stating that it is to be used for “educational use only” and “all actions are subject to MCPS review.”

Even since the beginning of the year, students were not supposed to have Wi-Fi, IT specialist Greg Thomas said.

Students were at first ecstatic to see Wi-Fi had returned, but were soon disappointed by the quality of network.

“I loved that it was back but it’s pretty slow and a little bit glitchy,” sophomore Vince de Gravelles said.

The Whitman IT department, which administrates Whitman’s Wi-Fi, was not involved in the network and was unaware that Wi-Fi was available to students until Friday.

“I’m sure that decision was not made by anyone the IT department” Thomas said. “I would assume that’s a mistake or error and someone will correct it as soon as they find out.”

However, Principal Alan Goodwin has been working with the county to get Wi-Fi back for students since the initial network’s password was changed. It’s important to have because of the educational uses it can have in the classroom, he said.

“I was the liaison trying to get Wi-Fi back,” Goodwin said. “Although, students at our school need to be careful not to abuse it.”