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A Wave of Online Students Is Clogging Up the Internet
The infrastructure schools rely on wasn’t built for virtual learning
Many schools are beginning classes online this year in an effort to slow the spread of Covid-19, but some are finding that the internet isn’t up for the task. They have reported internet slow-downs, server errors, website crashes, and internet service providers that appear to struggle with the load of hundreds or thousands of students simultaneously showing up, virtually, for class.
The digital infrastructure schools rely upon was not built with online courses in mind, and there are a myriad of potential bottlenecks and problems that can cause these types of failures.
The first is a problem close to home. Though it might seem like you’re connected directly to the internet, it filters through a series of switches and routers on the way there. Think of it like driving on a city street before merging onto a highway, where you can go full speed. One of these “small city streets” joins an entire neighborhood’s users together onto the “highway” of the internet provider’s network. This point goes by many names: a DSLAM for DSL users, CMTS for cable subscribers, or OLT for those with a fiber connection. Generally, this looks like a small cabinet on the street. An ultra-fast connection comes from an…
