After finding out that the high school was short 100 access points, the Education Technology Center partnered with Gateway Wireless to improve the Wi-Fi connection. Over the summer, the access points that we were missing were installed.

“Access points, that’s where the Wi-Fi connection is. So when you have your Wi-Fi on, it will connect to your access point which is hard-wired into the internet. So it’s like a router,” technology support member Brian Skinner said.

Access points can only support a certain amount of students before they become oversaturated and the internet connection is affected.

“We were way overstretched prior to the upgrade. There was one access point for the entire English department. So, you have up to 200 people on an access point that supports 30-45,” Skinner said.

Access points can now be found in almost every room at the high school. Before, one access point would be shared between multiple classrooms.

“It’s more dependent on the device now rather than it is on the internet. Slower devices that have not been updated or older devices seem to take longer to get logged onto. But, once you’re on the internet, the internet has been fine. I have Chromebooks for my class and the internet seems to be working fine,” Skinner said.

Gateway Wireless worked from late April up until early August to improve the connection for the school year.