How do Wi-Fi Access Points Work? (Schools)

Factual Questions
1

I’m a bit unclear how a Wi-Fi Access Point devices brings Internet access into a Student’s home?

I had DSL which used the phone line and a DSL modem. I currently use U-verse which uses fiber optic from the street and CAT-5 into the house. I’ve heard of network access from Cable companies like Xfinity.

I looked into Hughsnet which uses a dish for Satellite internet. It’s almost double the cost of DSL.

I understand the state is contracting with AT&T, T-Mobile, and possibly a third vendor.

How does this box work? Is it a special Network for Schools? Is it wide open network access like DSL? I assume they still need a computer with a wireless adapter?

I hadn’t heard of Wi-Fi Access Points before.GOV: $10 million for Wi-Fi access points for students across Arkansas, free of charge

2

Reading between the lines a bit, it looks like the devices convert a cellular signal into a wi-fi signal. Much like a cell phone does when you are using it as a hot-spot.

So the data plans the state agreed to pay for are cellular data plans. It would just be regular internet, not a school network I assume and the students would still have to have a devices with a wi-fi module.

3

In this case, it seams to be the same thing as what people around here would call ‘a modem’. Students who don’t have internet will be given ‘a modem’ and ‘internet service’.

‘Access point’ is the wifi part of ‘a modem’ or ‘a router’ or ‘a cable box’ or ‘the internet’. In this case, it means that any student with a wifi device will be able to connect (access) the internet (service) at the place where the (access point) is. In my home I’ve got three ‘access points’, but in my home, those words are only used to describe the way the modem/router is configured: outside my home, those words are used to describe devices/locations provided just for that purpose: our phone company has put ‘access points’ into all their pay phones: nobody uses pay phones any more, but they’ve got a network connection and lots of people use wifi.

In my home and work, my wifi, configured as ‘access points’, is connected to cable, ADSL, and cellular, using either a cellular connection built into the device, or a USB ‘dongle’. (we use the cellular as backup for the cable/adsl).

I can also configure some of my wifi devices as ??? I can’t remember what. Repeaters, ??? something else ??? whatever. I’ve not had to do that, but I’ve seen the options.

4

Friends of mine are school bus drivers in rural Indiana. I know that, last spring, they were doing wifi access points for students in their district – they outfitted school buses with the wifi routers (using cellular data, as you note), and would park the bus in a central location (in the school’s parking lot, or a church parking lot). Parents had to drive their kids to that location, where they then were able to use the wifi from their own vehicles.

5

It’s a simple wifi puck. You can buy them at any cell phone store. They connect to the internet through the cell towers, just like a phone.

6

I didn’t know these devices existed.

I saw several 4g models. Some for Europe, Central America.

This is model is for the US.

I’m not sure which brand my state is buying. They should get a bulk discount because they’re buying 20,000 units.

7

The term “WiFi access point” means any device that allows you to connect to a network by WiFi. The article quoted is not well written. It also adds:

Hutchinson also admitted there would still be gaps in providing service if a student lives in an area that doesn’t access to a cellular signal.

In the governor’s press release it refers to deals with AT&T and T-Mobile.

So definitely a cellular hotspot. My company used these when we were in a federal facility and were not allowed to connect to their network. To the computer it looks just like any other wifi access point.

8

Do you know what role the bus plays in this? Couldn’t they just install the routers in these places?

9

Mobile generator presumably…

10

I think it was (a) to have a power supply without having to go into a building (this was during the height of lockdown ordres), and (b) allow them to easily move the hotspot to several places in one day.

11

Nobody’s really backed up here and answered your question fully.

In general, getting from your device (PC, phone, tablet, etc…) to a site on the internet is really a matter of routing messages from one network to another, to another, etc…

In your house, you usually have one network, your Local Area Network (LAN) that connects all of the devices in your home. It connects them to each other- they can all talk to each other on the LAN. That’s usually how network printers work- they don’t go through the internet- your PC or phone or whatever sends network messages directly to the printer through your LAN. In most homes these days, the LAN is wireless, and is called “Wi-Fi” (it’s usually some flavor of 802.11 wireless ethernet).

Usually one of those devices is something called a router- it basically acts as a connection point between networks- you’ll see it on a windows devices as your “Default Gateway” in most cases. What it does is forward any traffic that one of your devices wants to send outside of your LAN- i.e. anything outside of your family’s devices on the LAN out to another network- in this case, your internet provider’s network. Their routers do the same thing- forwarding that message until it ends up where it is supposed to be.

There’s also something called a ‘modem’, which is short for modulator/demodulator, and its’ the device that translates the signals so that they can be sent via a phone line (DSL) or an analog cable TV line (cable internet). The modem’s just a physical layer gizmo- it doesn’t do anything but change one type of electrical signal format into another one.

Most people have a single network appliance that does multiple things- it’s a router, it’s a Wi-Fi hub, it’s a DSL modem or cable modem, it’s a rudimentary firewall (something that limits access from the outside world), etc… It’s the gizmo that your internet provider gave you that hooks up to the wall.

Based on the article, it looks like the Wi-Fi access points they’re talking about are essentially little cellular routers that have their own Wi-Fi network and forward onto a carrier’s cellular network (like 4G LTE or 5G or whatever). Same basic idea as what your internet provider’s gizmo does, except that it sends/receives external traffic over a cellular network like a phone instead of through a DSL line or cable line, so for the purposes of providing fast, cheap internet access to low income students, it’s the best bet. This is because it provides adequate speed, and requires no additional hardware or infrastructure beyond what the cellular phone carriers have already provisioned to most places.

Of course, if said low-income students live somewhere without cell coverage, they’re not going to be able to use it.

12

I want to thank everyone for their help. Seems like I’m always a few steps behind on the latest tech. I’m glad we have a resource like the SDMB to get questions answered.

13

The cell phone providers have been selling these for years now, so it’s likely your state will just buy it from them instead of getting a generic OEM one like the one you linked to. Example: Sprint hotspot

The typical use case is for, say RV or rural usage, where you might get cell signal but no good landline internet options. Between satellite and cellular 4G, the cell tends to be a lot cheaper and faster.

Your phone can also do this, BTW, if you turn on your personal hotspot.

As for bulk discounts, eh, this is politics. It seems more likely someone will be getting a little-scrutinized kickback for having chosen their favorite vendor. Years later, when someone does some investigative reporting on pandemic emergency spending, shenanigans will be discovered, but we’ll have moved on to the next apocalypse by then. Regardless, I’m glad kids are getting internet in the meantime…