FIBER OPTICS CAN HELP US FIND A BETTER FUTURE

We tend to think of faster Internet speeds and higher bandwidth mainly as a way to enjoy entertainment services even more quickly. Fiber optic cables can support incredibly quick transmission of television and Internet broadband services, and it’s true that users can enjoy high connection speeds for viewing multimedia content like never before through these systems.

 

buildfutureHowever, communities across the country are waking up to the realization that these fiber optics data systems can also provide a great public service for many of our institutions. This is especially true of education, where giving more students the ability for digital learning can result in amazing increases in learning.

 

Here at Connected Fiber, we love to see people acknowledging the positive impact that this technology can make on the education of our country’s students. Today, we’re happy to share a couple of recent stories we found about a couple of communities separated by more than a thousand miles, which are busy building better online infrastructures for their schools.

 

This article published by The Brattleboro Reformer reports that 800 miles of fiber optic cables have recently been installed throughout the state of Vermont, connecting some 400 public institutions together. This includes more than 100 public schools, 32 colleges and 40 libraries. This project, which received about $174 million in grant and loan funding through federal stimulus programs, is already improving education at many public schools. One teacher quoted in the story talked about how her entire class could use the Internet and engage with educational software at their own skill level, something previously impossible.

 

Down in the much more southern climate of Maryville, TN, more than 100 fiber optic cables will be installed over the next few months will connect all the schools in the Maryville district, from elementary schools up through Maryville High School. The project, costing the city a little more than $135,000 in capital funds according to this article published by The Daily Times, will also connect the schools more quickly to networks at the Maryville Municipal Center.

 

Fiber optics can help us find a better future for our country by enabling the faster learning of the next generation of our nation’s citizens.