Pinellas Schools Pull Plug On Students' Free WiFi

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ST. PETERSBURG (CBSMiami/AP) — For some students in Pinellas County there was a real disconnect when they returned to school to start the new year.

That's because their free WiFi was gone.

Over the summer the school district replaced one of the wireless networks shared by staff and students with two new networks. One is exclusively used for staff and their personally-owned devices. The other is for district-owned wireless devices.

A third password-protected network is being set up for guests and vendors. School officials said it would be up to the administration at each school as to whether they would give the user information to students. But the password is changed monthly or on an as-needed basis.

The district's assistant superintendent for technology Tom Lechner says overhauling the network helped unclog an overburdened system that slowed and interrupted Internet connections last year The district spends about $1 million annually on bandwidth.

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