Limited Bandwidth Slows Efforts to Make Students Tech Savvy

At Brooklyn Technical High School, students can learn robotics and aerospace engineering, in addition to high-level math and science classes. Yet, even here, Internet access is slow, likened recently to getting through the Lincoln Tunnel at rush hour.

"It's lagging. It's really, really slow," said Assistant Principal Jennifer Sullivan, who added that lifting the cell phone ban only made things worse because students now compete with faculty for the wifi.

It is just one of many New York City public schools housed in an older building that's ill-equipped for the modern computer age. Mayor Bill de Blasio has built on his predecessor's efforts to adapt curricula and career-training opportunities to fast-growing industries such as telecommunications and computer technology.

But it's hard to make progress when students and faculty can't access online content. Brooklyn Tech and Bronx High School of Science instructors told WNYC they’re using the Internet more, but not as much as they wanted. Too often limited bandwidth led to lost instructional time while students wait for YouTube videos and Google Docs to load, they said.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said that between now and 2019, the city would invest $650 million to upgrade technology, including increased bandwidth.

Since 2013, the city has replaced old wiring in over 250 buildings. Almost all schools now have new fiber optic Internet connections capable of carrying 80 Mbps although they will continue to operate at 50 Mbps until further infrastructure upgrades are completed.

But, for many concerned parents and students, these fixes aren’t happening fast enough. Annie Feighery's son is a freshman at Bronx Science.

“I don’t want his generation of freshmen to go through school without having really been immersed in technology for all their years,” said Fieghery. “I want them to come out having spent every day interacting with technology in every class they’re in.”

One possible bright spot: New York City is eligible again for funding from the federal E-rate program which subsidizes telecommunications, Internet access and wifi services for schools and libraries. Because of an alleged compliance violation, New York lost more than $120 million dollars in E-rate funding. In December, city lawyers reached a settlement with the FCC, re-opening another stream of funding for improved broadband in the city schools.