Can our school broadcast a wifi bubble to allow extended access to our intranet.?
There are certainly places which have adopted this type of networking plan, but they are certainly costly, and not something to take lightly. In the UK, Norwich has started making a public access network (but coverage is limited) and in Islington, they have an “electric mile” (or similarly named scheme) where the main streets are ‘enabled’. One ISP, Community Internet, was looking to provide wifi access to a small village (and was in the news, because there’s a low limit on the number of users before licencing becomes quite an issue and cost). A search for Ray Bellis (Technical Director at Community Internet) might find more. One real question though – if there are pupils who have no landline / internet at home, are they likely to be real “users” for this – if they have funds for a PC / wireless kit, then surely they also have the option of paying for a landline, even if the internet service is a spin-off of other things (like getting it free with Sky TV service)… I was just puzzled
