By Ali Tadayon and Sydney Johnson, EdSource, January 4, 2021
California school districts and cities that are grappling with unequal internet access among their students during the pandemic are taking it upon themselves to solve the problem.
Early on, schools often gave individual hotspots to students who don’t have the means to access the internet at home. But service can be patchy and expensive. So, some communities — San Jose, West Contra Costa County, Kings County and Oakland among others — are building their own wireless network infrastructure.
School districts and cities are laying down the fiber cable and installing Wi-Fi access points, complete with modems and routers on light poles and traffic lights. Some are even becoming internet service providers themselves (ISP) — efforts, they say, that will make it easier to provide internet access to those who can’t afford it.
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