Should Public Housing Authorities provide free Wifi to children during the Covid-19 Pandemic so they can keep up with school work?
Regardless of your thoughts about free Wifi, it is a very hot topic right now. The concern is making sure that children in public housing don't fall behind, while many schools are having students finish this school year working remotely. This is a very real issue and one that deserves some attention. However, it is a complex issue.
There are many things to consider before starting a wifi project, such as:
- Funding - Initial cost, but also the on-going cost of providing and maintaining these connections.
- Long term vs short term - Are you looking for a short term solution for the next few months or are you wanting to build a more permanent solution?
- Physical Layout - Are your units close together or spread out? This can greatly impact the price of equipment, cabling and maintenance.
- Central Location vs Property Access - Most of the time it makes more sense to provide a guest wifi connection inside of a designated location such as a community center, learning center or other common area. Given the issues with the Corona Virus, you must have a way to disinfect the area and enforce social distancing for safety of the users.
- Bandwidth - How much internet speed can you get? You need a good, stable internet and plenty of it, if you are going to setup a guest wifi. Many places have very limited choices for internet service and it can be quite slow.
- Security - Guest wifi should always be separated from the network in your business office. There are a variety of ways of accomplishing this, but it must be configured correctly in order for the office information to remain secure and so that the users of the guest network can also be safe from other users.
I have seen some communities come up with some very creative ways to provide wifi to students during the Covid-19 crisis. There are many ways to do it and all of the ways have their own complications. We will glad to help any housing authority that is trying to solve this problem and needs help navigating the potential issues.
Please contact me if you are considering a wifi project. There is much more involved than just plugging in a wireless router and giving out the password. We are here to help guide you.
