Thursday, February 26, 2015

Oakland Schools Get Faster Internet, Better Wireless

By Doug Oakley
doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com
OAKLAND -- The city's 107 schools and child development centers are getting faster Internet service and an upgrade to their wireless infrastructure that will increase speeds 10 fold by the time the project is finished at the beginning of next school year. 

"It will be like going from a dirt road to a superhighway," said John Krull, the Oakland school district's information technology officer, who is heading up the project. "It's part of our whole bigger picture to improve learning." 

The district already finished upgrading wireless access points at 44 schools and is about to award the second part of the contract for the remaining schools, worth about $5 million, Krull said. 

Last spring Comcast was awarded a $7.9 million, five year contract to bring the faster Internet to the schools, and that work should be finished by next fall, Krull said. The school district chose Comcast over AT&T, Krull said. 

"When this is finished, every kid should be able to open a laptop in class and it will work," Krull said. 

Follow Doug Oakley on Twitter at www.twitter.com/douglasoakley

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