Burlington Schools Look To Fix Sluggish Wi-Fi Network

BURLINGTON, MA -- Expanding the Burlington Public School System's guest Wi-Fi network could cost as much as $12,000. School officials are considering the expansion to make sure students can access the network with personal technology devices. While students log into the main network with school-issued devices, the guest network can get bogged down when they use it for devices like personal smartphones.

"Maybe I am taking my anxiety to too high a level, but I look at all the problems happening across the country, and if there is an emergency, I believe kids should have access to their phones to make a call," School Committee member Christine Monaco said. "My concern is kids telling me they cannot make a call."

Director of Technology and Operations Bob Cunha told the school committee expanding the network the district could contract with Cisco Systems to have engineers on-site during set hours to trouble shoot problems for $4,800. For $12,000, those engineers could be given a "to-do" list of tasks that would improve performance on the network.

"If there is too much device capacity, then the quality of service becomes bogged down... This money would allow us to expand the guest network, " Cunha said.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).