Success Story
South Carolina School District Uses School Bus Wi-Fi for Remote Learning
Greenville County Schools uses all-in-one Cradlepoint solution for secure, fleetwide Wi-Fi that IT can manage from anywhere.
Details
Industry: Education
Use Case: School Bus Wi-Fi
Solution: Ruggedized Router with NetCloud
When Greenville County Schools (GCS) decided to improve remote learning for its 75,000 students by putting Wi-Fi on more than 400 school buses, they turned to Cradlepoint because of their advanced security features and reputation for being a leader in the Wireless WAN edge space.
Challenge
One of the most important pieces of the solution for GCS was finding a highly reliable mobile broadband router that would support the IT team’s security and management needs.
Solution
For constant connectivity that would meet the needs of the modern-day student, GCS implemented Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service for Mobile alongside ruggedized wireless edge routers. Featuring built-in Wi-Fi, GPS, a firewall, content filtering, and centralized network monitoring and management – this solution was the perfect fit.
Benefits
A Cradlepoint powered solution provides everything GCS needs for school bus Wi-Fi in an all-in-one solution that allows the IT team to make adjustments and respond to connection issues from HQ instead of aboard each bus. For the students, this streamlined solution extends the classroom environment to the road – turning school bus time into homework time.
” We Deployed Cradlepoint in our entire fleet of 425 buses and achieved our goal of providing our students with safe and secure access to Wi-Fi that extends the classroom. “
- Bill Brown, Executive Director of Education Technology Services, Greenville County Schools
Background & Challenges
GCS encompasses 87 schools, spans across 800 square district miles, and is the largest school district in South Carolina.
Initally, GCS began a pilot program for safe and secure Wi-Fi on a few buses to determine the feasibility of the technology and study the LTE coverage within Greenville County. Afterward, with help from state-provided grant money, the district moved forward with its fleetwide school bus Wi-Fi initiative.
The district was in the process of rolling out a Chromebook to every child in grades three through 12, and GCS wanted every student to be able to use their laptops and personal devices on their daily bus rides. This would require highly reliable cellular connectivity through a solution that also provides Wi-Fi.
GCS also planned to use critical applications such as GPS for bus monitoring and mapping and therefore required a constant connection to oversee the buses in real-time.
Finally, they needed a connection that could be up and running quickly. Each student who travels on the bus spends about 45 minutes en route. GCS needed to take that valuable time and put it toward homework or studying.
Benefits
Reliable Connectivity for Consistent Wi-Fi Access
With Cradlepoint’s enterprise-class LTE routers, Wi-Fi is up and running within 5 minutes of starting the bus. Remote learning helps them complete their homework sooner and reduces the amount of misbehavior that takes place.
Real-Time Data for Location Tracking
The Cradlepoint solution supports the constant transfer of reliable, up-to-date GPS information from each bus back to HQ. The district can track the entire fleet’s location remotely.
Video Streaming for Enhanced Student Safety
Live streaming video from the buses helps the district remotely monitor student and driver safety. In the past if something went wrong with a bus, a supervisor or police officer may need to be dispatched, depending on the urgency. With the Cradlepoint solution, they can see what the problem is and determine whether anyone needs to be dispatched.
Streamlined Network Management and Troubleshooting
With NetCloud Manager in place for centralized management of a single router on each bus, the district’s IT team spends minimal time addressing connectivity challenges.
School Bus Wi-Fi Is Now
E-Rate Eligible
Work with a Certified E-Rate Service Provder
While this specific deployment wasn’t procured via E-Rate through RCN – we do have years of experience helping schools get connected.
Thanks to the FCC’s recent ruling on what is and isn’t eligible for E-Rate funding, school bus Wi-Fi can now be purchased using E-Rate funding.
Wireless WAN Ecosystem
By partnering with RCN, schools – and even entire districts – can have their projects supported by an entire team of Cradlepoint certified IT professionals.
Customers can take advantage of several white-glove services, including:
Hardware Procurement
Provisioning
Installation
Post-Deployment Support
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