Laptops replace bookbags

Communications News, Dec, 1998 by David Rockwell

During my pilot, I discovered that at least twenty students could simultaneously access the network from one AP at a rate as high as 3.2 Mbps anywhere in a four-classroom pod area. Our mobile classrooms are within range of the main building and now can also be brought onto the network.

At this point, I requested competitive product or pricing. Wave Access was awarded the contract and made the cards available for less than the price of a port replicator. Last summer, the major portion of Lady's Island's capital technology funds afforded two APs and 20 wireless cards for each of the 16 pods in the school building.

Installing wireless cards and configuring other network resources and printers for all our 700 laptops, including Toshiba models 400cs, 430cds, 310cds, 2504cds, and Gateway Solo 2300 and 9100, brought the total work time to an average of five minutes per laptop. The Toshiba 430cds often required multiple attempts before the card would install. Wave Access' engineer Ed McDonough plugged the card in after the machine was fully booted and let Windows or the Toshiba Card Wizard detect it. Clearing all traces of the card in the system's registry before attempting a second installation also helped.

PILOT SCHOOL GETS WIRELESS

Last fall, Principal Randy Wall opened a sister pilot school, the Humanities School of Beaufort, with 200 Lady's Island students. The network now being installed will rely almost entirely on wireless technology. In addition to using wireless cards for 120 laptops at this site, Wave Access wireless boxes are being used to connect the Gateway large screen Destination Computer Systems to their network. The layout of that building in two adjoining "L" shaped halls--one 300 feet long; the other 250 feet long--has limited the range of the APs. Since the rooms run in a straight line down each hall, the number of concrete walls the signal must pass through increases farther down the hall. Placing the APs in the drop ceiling out in the hall should help centralize the signal, but this will require longer patch cables and a way to provide electrical power for the AP in the hallway ceiling. A total of five APs placed equal distance down each hall should provide adequate signal coverage based on the Wave Scout readings taken.

Widespread use of laptops in the classrooms is just starting, and we will continue to monitor and adjust our wireless solution as students put it through its paces. While not an inexpensive solution, this appears to be a superior one for the amount of money that any available option currently requires. It is truly mobile, easy to install and maintain, and eliminates the need for many cables with fragile connections.

Rockwell is full-time instructional technology coordinator at Lady's Island Middle School, Beaufort, S.C.

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