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Sprint To Provide 1 Million Students With Free Internet, Mobile Devices (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Wireless carrier Sprint Corp on Tuesday pledged to provide 1 million U.S. high school students with free mobile devices and internet access as part of a White House initiative to expand opportunities for lower income kids. Marcelo Claure, chief executive of Sprint, said the plan builds on the company's prior commitment through the White House's ConnectED program to get 50,000 students high speed internet. He said Sprint realized that while providing students with internet at school was helpful, students would still need to be able to use the internet at home. "We are going to equip 1 million kids with the tools they need to reach their full potential and achieve their dreams," Claure told reporters on a White House call. Sprint aims to give cell phones, tablets, laptops or mobile hot spots to students who do not have internet at home. Students would be able to choose the type of device that might meet their needs and it would be coupled with four years of free data plans. The company hopes to reach its goal of a million students in five years. Manufacturers have agreed to provide the mobile devices at no cost, Claure said. He also said the company would encourage customers to donate their old devices to the program and that it would not cost Sprint much to allow the free use of its network.
I guess we know where all those returned Galaxy Note 7's are going.
You go to school, get good grades, get a good job, stay out of trouble, all to make a good living and enjoy some luxuries.
But it looks like you don't need to do that because the fucking government is giving it all away.
Why would anyone want to escape poverty when poverty in the US is merely a lower middle class lifestyle?
This is a much better than Facebook's plan of giving access to their tailormade list of sites that suits their interests.
Anyone who has kids knows how much the internet is central to a child's schooling needs now. It's more than just using the internet for research now. The internet is used as the medium in which teachers hand out assignments, give grades, accept assignments.
Without internet you can't be an affective student. If your parents don't have internet service you have to go places to access it from free-public places; libraries, whilst they're open, etc. Poor kids manage, but it's a definite disadvantage than having to access your work from home. Poor kids in rural areas are probably in extra trouble.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Hadn't I read somewhere that a study was done over time that showed that handing out free tech to students really didn't make them better students or give them better grades?
Get'em while they're young. First hit is free.
# Dum dum daah, dum dum didah dum, Dum dum daah, dum dum didah dum, LUST FOR LIFE!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
This screams political garbage. Sprint,AT&T and Verizon promote Family plans. How do you legally provide kids unlimited data? What is to prevent them from using it for streaming movies? How can a parent control misuse of the device?
Thanks AOL.
Internet access is a great step. This is really, really cool, and definitely I will do more to find out about how to help my students get free access to the internet.
What is really needed is a way to easily use a cheap android phone as a laptop. Tablets definitely have their place, but for typing a report having a keyboard makes for a much better essay.
A friend at a local seattle community college received a verizon hotspot. Seems the college gave wifi units to every student, with no data caps. Not sure what the agreement was, or how it was included with the student fees, but all the students received them. unlimited verizon wifi hotspots (wow!)
We pay over 150 bux a month for 15gigs on verizon for ours, and these students had unlimited access. Crazy. As theres no high speed data in the rural areas of Washington state, and sat is over subscribed. Waiting or Viasat 2 and 3 to launch, so we can get it.
Sprint is losing money hand over fist. They can't afford this.
Can't believe Son and his buddies are doing this out of the goodness of their heart...
This solves nothing. Let's drop advanced Algebra and Trigonometry as required electives and allow students to spend their high school years studying discreet mathematics. I'm not saying advanced Algebra, Trig, and even Calculus should be omitted, but give kids a chance to learn something practical. Not to mention, discreet mathematics easily bleeds into structural linguistics. Not enough teachers to cover that much ground? That is another subject entirely.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
So now Sprint will have 1.5 million customers in the next five years!
Great. Now I want to watch Trainspotting again.