HardyNet has helped to greatly boost Internet speeds at Hardy County schools, expanding learning opportunities for students.
HardyNet participated in a recently completed project to increase the Internet bandwidth among Hardy County schools and out to the world. The school network connects to the Regional Education Service Agency (RESA) 8 system in Morgantown, which oversees school Internet usage in West Virginia. Hardy County schools receive Internet service through a state network, but HardyNet transports the local schools’ data.
With the upgrade, each Hardy County school and the Board of Education office now have 10 MB connection speeds, with a pipe out of the area of 100 MB. Before the upgrade, the schools operated with a bandwidth speed of 1.5 MB.
For comparison, downloading a typical movie with a file size of 1 GB at a speed of 1.5 MB would take about 90 minutes. A 10 MB connection can download that same 1 GB movie in only 13 minutes. And the entire school network’s 100 MB connection to RESA 8 in Morgantown can handle that 1 GB movie in one minute and 20 seconds. In anticipation of future needs, the 100 MB connection to RESA 8 is capable of expanding to 1 GB.
The increase in Internet connection speed will open a wider range of learning and teaching tools for students and faculty. The faster speeds mean that students and teachers can employ new technology and techniques that weren’t feasible before, Hardy County Superintendent of Schools Barbara Whitecotton said.
“The assistance that Hardy Telecommunications has given Hardy County schools to increase bandwidth in our schools has been extremely helpful to both students and staff,” she said. “The increased bandwidth provides greater opportunities for implementing curriculum by the teacher while giving the students access to improved technology. Our teachers now have the capability to use instructional strategies to increase student engagement in classes that we believe will lead to higher student achievement.
“Without the assistance of Hardy Telecommunications, Hardy County schools would have struggled to meet the needs of students and staff for increased bandwidth in our schools,” Whitecotton said.