January 1997 — Exclusive

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The Connected Schools of Belen, New Mexico: A Wireless Success Story

But the network is in and it works quite well, with only minor problems its first full semester of operation.

As measured by ftp transfers of data, rates of up to 1.22 Mbps are achieved by the staff. I observed a transfer from an elementary classroom, by ftp, involving one wireless link and going through routers to the Linux machine, of .997 Mbps, against the rated 1.544 Mbps (T1) -- quite satisfactory. I also observed transfers and Netscape sessions through the wireless networks and the 56K link to the Internet, in which the slowest link turns out to be the $125-a-month frame relay service. The fastest link is with the no-cost wireless.

With teachers only beginning to get used to the Internet resources and possibilities, the 56K link is adequate for now, but Belen's technical staff is fully aware that T1 access to the Internet will be needed soon. The $12,000-a-year cost is a barrier, however. If they could use no-license wireless all the way to Albuquerque, the district would be in excellent shape.

Teacher Use and Reaction

Teachers like the network. Some are unaware that it is wireless, but all whom I interviewed - - the most experienced networkers -- were greatly pleased. They use it down to the lower grades to access the Internet, as well as to reach centralized files and programs on servers in schools miles away. The system, acting as one big LAN, works very well.

Both Jennifer Danner (jdanner@belen.k12.nm.us), a 4th-grade teacher, and Kassandra Boyd (kboyd@belen.k12.nm.us) a-6th grade teacher, demonstrated the network's uses in the classroom. They showed their mastery of its commands by the speed, confidence and imagination of their applications. That, together with the performance of the systems they were able to rely on, showed clearly to me that the wireless T1 network will be heavily used throughout the district, at all levels, for substantive educational purposes. Kassandra Boyd made one telling observation, when she said "My 6th graders don't like to use our 14.4 modem any more -- too slow."

The Future

The district has practical plans to develop the network further and also showed considerable interest in other no-license wireless solutions to their problems of access. For example, there was interest in shorter- range wireless modems if they could reach across the community of Belen (some 5 miles from the center to the district boundaries) from the homes of students and teachers. That would obviate the need for ever-larger banks of phones to handle increasing study-from-home traffic.

They were even more interested in the possibility of reaching an Internet POP in Albuquerque at T1 speeds by later-model radios (some have a rated range of 25 miles for 2Mbs), but that would require a relay site at some intermediate site. Such a relay would cut the throughput to 1Mbps, 33% below full T1. But with US West local loop T1 costs of $12,000 a year, or $60,000 for the usual 5-year contract, the cost of from $4,000 (bridge only) to $8,000 (bridge plus router) times three looks fairly attractive. If such radios, with better FCC rules, had a larger market, the price would come down.