The Walker School, a college-preparatory pre-K-12 independent school in metro Atlanta, is using Comcast Business Class Ethernet to provide additional bandwidth as the school continues to expand its use of online learning tools and applications across a seven-building campus.
Besides powering more iPads and cloud-based applications on campus, the new Ethernet service also supports the school’s online systems for creating and recording report cards, grade books, attendance, group collaboration, and communicating with students and parents.
With more than 1,000 students, 180 faculty and staff, and 400 computers for accessing the Internet, educational applications and online resources, The Walker School had seen a significant increase in data traffic on its network. In addition, the school’s Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) support meant there were typically 100-150 mobile devices simultaneously on the network accessing the Internet, educational applications, or other content. As a result, the school’s previous 15 Mbps Internet connection was getting bogged down, especially during peak hours of the school day.
After researching their options, the school selected Comcast to install a fiber network connection to its campus with a 100 Mbps Internet service. The installation was completed during summer break and students and staff returning for the new school year remarked on the noticeable improvement in Internet speed and connectivity. The Walker School is now getting seven times more bandwidth while its cost per megabit per second has dropped 76 percent.
“We experienced periodic downtime with our previous vendor, and it was important for us to have a more stable connection, especially with more and more devices accessing the Internet,” said Kerry Bossak, director of technology for The Walker School. “While the increased bandwidth and guaranteed network uptime were important factors in switching to Comcast Business Class, the cost advantage is a big deal for us because it means we have the bandwidth to support our technology in education initiatives while saving money to invest in other areas of education.”
Comcast Business Class Ethernet also allows the Walker School to increase bandwidth whenever needed, often by making a phone call to Comcast..
“Because our Ethernet services are delivered across our modern fiber-based network, we are able to provide reliable, high-performance connectivity to our customers that can easily scale up as their bandwidth demands change,” said Bob Deckard, regional vice president, Comcast Business Services, Atlanta.
