Fiber to the Classroom

This is a guest post from Bryan Dosono, who was a Google Policy Fellow at the Open Technology Institute in the summer of 2013. He is currently getting his PhD in Information Science and Technology at Syracuse University.

This year, policymakers had a productive summer vacation—they resolved to tackle an emerging problem in our education system: many of the nation’s public schools lack high-quality, high-speed Internet. As part of the ConnectED initiative, President Obama expects 99 percent of America’s public schools to reach a gigabit of capacity per 1,000 students by the end of the decade. Fiber connectivity represents the soundest investment we can make in our public schools to improve broadband speeds and overall performance.

The E-rate Program helps provide affordable access to telecommunications services for all eligible schools and libraries, particularly those in rural and economically disadvantaged areas. E-rate subsidizes connections for communications services to schools and libraries across the country, but the program now encounters issues not foreseen when it was created nearly two decades ago. Many of these institutions find that they do not have enough capacity to meet connectivity needs for even the most basic online applications. Fiber infrastructure is a sound investment for E-rate recipients seeking to improve connectivity to meet the needs of today and tomorrow.

Technicians praise fiber as a resilient and reliable technology that can deliver the bandwidth needed in gigabit speeds. Unlike more common copper wire, which is prone to corrosive environmental factors, fiber strands last for decades and their capacity can be increased without having to lay new fiber. Fiber optic signals travel at higher speeds and greater distances than other data transmission options with very little signal loss. Additionally, the economic analyses of fiber optic investments show that the high cost of new fiber networks comes mostly from labor to put cables in place on poles or digging trenches to lay fiber in underground conduit. Over time, however, ongoing repair and maintenance costs for fiber optic networks decrease in comparison to cable, DSL, or wireless network counterparts.

For schools near city-owned fiber networks, tapping into existing last-mile fiber lines can make it possible to get gigabit speeds for free or with a low-cost subscription. Since the FCC allows schools to lease dark—also referred to as unused or unlit—fiber from any entity, including state, municipal, or regional research networks and utility companies, schools should seek to establish such partnerships where appropriate. In many cases, municipal broadband networks equip local communities with an accessible solution for getting citizens online. This option gives community leaders the ability to decide when, how, and where to upgrade services without the restrictions imposed by telecommunication companies. School districts should not need to wait for private Internet service providers to calculate costs and benefits of investing in networking infrastructure.

Proposals to increase investment in fiber garner support among a wide variety of stakeholders. The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition supports the concept that high-capacity fiber connections deployed to serve community anchor institutions should be available to serve others as well. Cisco recommends that schools leverage fiber infrastructure to increase actual network bandwidth. This will help prevent over-congestion on connections where schools rely on the Internet for student courseware and other educational cloud services. As advised by the Leading Education by Advancing Digital Commission, modernizing E-Rate is imperative to enable 21st century learning.

The bandwidth deemed sufficient 15 years ago no longer meets the needs of a modern education. America loses its competitive edge to countries that do a better job connecting their students to high-speed broadband and other cutting-edge technology. If schools provide 1 gigabit per 1,000 students with upload capabilities that match download speeds, students will not only be able to consume content, but also share the innovative work they produce.