Leverett House resident tutor Stuart E. Schechter uses wireless Internet access on his laptop computer in Leverett Dining Hall.

Harvard aims to extend wireless Internet access to the common lounges of all first-year dormitories in time for the fall arrival of the Class of 2008, computer service officials said yesterday.

The wireless rollout, which was completed in the common spaces of the final two Houses, Lowell and Winthrop, last month, is now spreading to the Yard, where preliminary efforts are already underway, according to Kevin S. Davis ’98, coordinator of residential computing.

And the system is already bursting at the seams.

Over 1,000 users simultaneously connected without wires last Monday, maxing out the system and marking a new milestone for Harvard’s wireless network.

Hundreds of IP addresses have been added to accommodate the increased traffic, said Frank Steen, director of Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services.

But with 500 access points already in place across campus, the University does not have plans to expand wireless Internet into individual dorm rooms.

“Right now, you get much better performance plugged directly into a data jack than you get on wireless,” Davis said.

Still, students in first-year dormitories are likely to experience collateral access to wireless Internet installed in their basement and first-floor common rooms. Students in upperclass Houses already report accessing the wireless network from their individual rooms.

While other universities are moving towards completely wireless campuses, Harvard has focused its resources on providing wireless Internet in residential common areas, libraries and key buildings.

“We’re trying to take this limited resource and put it in the place where there’s most demand,” Davis said.

Steen said Harvard’s wireless progress is on par with many of its peer institutions.

“Take Dartmouth, for example, which claims to be completely wireless,” said Steen. “I’ve followed that project, and we’ve done just as much construction as they’ve done.”

During a visit to Harvard last month, Bill Gates, Class of 1977, appeared confident his alma mater would soon gain full wireless access across the campus.

“I don’t know if it’s in every building at Harvard, but some day it will be,” Gates said.

At the top of the University’s list of future access points is the Yard’s Boylston Hall, which will require wireless access for programs this summer, Davis said.