Apple released its new iOS 7 on Wednesday, bringing a fresh look and updated features to the company's products. Of course, college students were eager to check it out.
But all those iPhone updates clogged campus networks and slowed Internet connections to a crawl. Some San Diego schools had to briefly suspend Apple downloads to deal with the iOS overload.
San Diego State University temporarily blocked access to Apple download sites Wednesday evening. The campus network had become so sluggish that students couldn't access grades or turn in online homework. The Apple blackout on campus was still in effect as of Thursday afternoon.
"People that have it now say it's super cool," said freshman Chayse Hew-Len. His iPhone remains stuck on an earlier operating system.
Hew-Len kept trying and failing to upgrade to iOS 7 Wednesday evening.
"I was just hanging out in the library for study hours with my fraternity," he said. "I was thinking about downloading the iOS 7, but it just kept saying 'try again later.'"
Megan O'Donnell, another first-year student, was one of the early birds lucky enough to get iOS 7 on her iPhone and iPad Wednesday morning. But network issues caught up with her later that day.
"The Internet was not working on my laptop at all," O'Donnell said. "I couldn't research for my paper or anything. It was kind of frustrating."
UC San Diego and San Diego community colleges were able to handle the traffic, according to campus IT officials. But the network at Cal State San Marcos was overwhelmed, too. That school also blocked Apple downloads for a few hours Wednesday.
Universities around the country have reportedly been slammed by surges in Apple traffic, including Ohio University and New York University.
