CoSN Reveals Cost of Wi-Fi in Schools

Last week, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the EducationSuperHighway revealed what’s needed to bring President Obama’s vision of ensuring 99 percent of American K-12 schools have broadband and Wi-Fi by 2018 to fruition.

The technological implications of this initiative are extensive. According to the findings:

·        74 percent of schools already have an in-building fiber backbone;

·        80 percent of schools can support gigabit broadband through existing wiring;

·        80 percent of schools have some WiFi capabilities in 90 percent of their classrooms, though those capabilities may not meet the standard of “robust” connectivity;

·        57 percent of districts reported their wireless networks incapable of handling a 1:1 deployment today and 40 percent of classrooms with no WiFi at all.

Read more from The Washington Post and T.H.E. Journal.

 To read the full study: http://www.educationsuperhighway.org/uploads/1/0/9/4/10946543/esh_cosn_lan_wifi_analysis.pdf