Users of the Palo Alto Unified School District student Wi-Fi network may have been frustrated with the constant authorization requests or the dead zones around campus. But according to District Director of Technology Ann Dunkin, these problems won’t be around for long.
According Dunkin, PAUSD is taking steps toward a dramatically improved wireless system; the upgrade process should be completed by the 2012-2013 school year. The new system will greatly improve the current problems with authorization requests and lack of access to student Wi-Fi.
Dunkin explained to The Paly Voice during a panel discussion that the district staff will start working on the current wired system around late January or early February of this year. The work on the wired system will improve speeds tenfold.
Dunkin also added that, by next fall, Palo Alto High School will sport a revamped wireless student wireless network. The project should make wireless speeds six times faster, though Dunkin said that the bid for the project has not been started yet.
“You’ll see big improvements once those [projects] are done,” she said.
According to both Dunkin and network engineer Alexey Demyankenko, the new wireless system will remove the need for authorization requests. Instead of requiring students to accept the agreements each time they connect to student Wi-Fi, the process will use student identification numbers and passwords.
This new system will be able to identify who is using the Wi-Fi and allow people to log into the student Wi-Fi on multiple devices, according to Demyankenko.
“That [new] system will remember your device, and next time … you don’t have to go through all this [authentication] process,” Demyankenko said. “You will need to authenticate your device about once a day.”
Dunkin added that the once-a-day authentication policy is not yet set in stone, and that the district may require students to authenticate their devices less often. The district will seek the input of the Paly administration to determine the best authentication schedule.
Despite the improvements from this system, Dunkin warned students to be cautious with the new password system, which can identify students. Because the district has access to what students view on their Wi-Fi devices, students will be responsible for any content viewed.
“It’s really important that when you’re logged into the system, you’re the one using the device,” Dunkin said. “If you’re going to let someone else use your device, you should really log out of the system.”
However, Dunkin said that the district neither wants to nor really ever uses this access.
In addition to improvements in authentication, the new system will mitigate the problems with dead zones around campus.
Although a different construction project will improve the Wi-Fi coverage on the football field, Demyankenko explained that more access points under the new system will improve connections in the classrooms.
A normal range of access points is currently one per two to four classrooms, but the new system hopes to get one per classroom, according to Demyankenko.
“Our goal [is] to get 100 percent coverage with [the] new wireless system,” Demyankenko said.
Currently, the bid for the wireless system lies at half a million dollars.
The next time you experience problems with student Wi-Fi, take a deep breath and move on with a clear mind. The new system will fix many of the issues for you – that is, unless you’re graduating before next fall.