Installing Wi-Fi enabled cellular routers on school buses enable Internet access for at-home students
Internet access is something many of us take for granted. Whether at home or at work, we expect to be able to access content from around the world in an instant. But that’s not true for everyone, and the recent events that have forced many students out of school buildings and into remote learning have brought this reality to the forefront. Online classes require one to be online, and the unfortunate truth is that not everyone has that luxury.
A recent blog from the Open Technology Institute written by Amir Nasr sums it up well.
“The divide between students who have broadband and those who do not, known as the homework gap, has long been a problem — an estimated 12 million children do not have internet access at home. That divide disproportionately harms historically marginalized communities and rural and tribal areas. The Pew Research Center reported that 17 percent of U.S. teenagers surveyed said they are either often or sometimes unable to complete homework due to a lack of a reliable internet connection or computer.”
School districts are trying to address this education equity issue in a variety of ways. Some are keeping schools open for a limited number of students. Some are providing cellular-enabled connections for individual students. And some are bringing the Internet to neighborhoods via school bus connectivity. By installing cellular-connected routers with Wi-Fi access capability in a school bus and parking that bus in a neighborhood, students can access the Internet and lessons from their phone, tablet or computer.
Check out our education solutions webpage to learn more about remote learning solutions.
Cradlepoint is working with its partners to help expedite this process and get Internet access added to as many school buses as possible. Cradlepoint NetCloud for Mobile and in-vehicle routers are the ideal solution suited to this task. Each router can connect up to 100 people at a time with full, integrated security capabilities. This includes threat protection and content filtering to minimize the risk of malware or access to inappropriate or dangerous web content. And LTE and 4G routers provide sufficient bandwidth for those students to access learning resources and on-line content.
During this time, it’s critical to keep students engaged and learning. And that should be true for all students.