Skip to main content

Microsoft enables free wireless internet for Virginia’s rural students

microsoft homework network homework01
Ximagination/123RF
Microsoft has launched a new “Homework Network,” offering wireless internet access to students in rural Virginia for the first time. Set to be made available to thousands of school-age children within Charlotte and Halifax counties, the wireless initiative makes use of free white space parts of the wireless spectrum, making it possible to offer the service for free.

White space is the designation of gaps in the the wireless spectrum which sit between existing broadcast bands. Often unused, the Homework Network leverages that space to extend existing wireless access from local schools to the wider communities. The technology uses a connection between base stations installed on towers or near fiber-connected schools, which link up with outdoor antennas attached to students’ homes.

Recommended Videos

Launched in collaboration between Microsoft’s Affordable Access Initiative and the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities group, the network is being installed by local service provider, B2X Online. It’s able to cover large geographic areas without much infrastructure, despite the hilly and forested local terrain.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

So far 100 homes have been tested as part of a pilot scheme. Now the plan is to install it in a thousand homes by the end of the year. That should give around 3,000 students access to the high-speed wireless internet.

Microsoft stated that it hopes the FCC can allocate white space like this to local wireless internet initiatives across the country, but especially in rural communities where access to high-speed internet is far from common, if not impossible.

As it stands, some 5 million homes in the United States are said to be lacking fast internet access (as per MSPowerUser), which Microsoft and others claim leaves students behind when it comes to research and learning outside of school. That so-called “homework gap” is something it wants to close, to ensure that rural students have just as much access to information as those in more built up areas.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
Nvidia may release the RTX 5070 in March to counter AMD’s RDNA 4 GPUs
The RTX 5070 in a graphic.

Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 5070 may now be launching in early March, according to industry analyst MEGAsizeGPU (@Zed__Wang on X). Initially expected to debut in February, the source suggests that the mid-range Blackwell GPU has been pushed back—potentially as a strategic move to counter AMD’s upcoming Radeon RX 9070.

Unveiled at CES 2025, the RTX 5070 is currently the most affordable GPU from the RTX 50-series lineup, at least till the RTX 5060 series goes official. It is powered by the GB205 GPU, featuring 48 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), 6,144 CUDA cores, and is equipped with 12GB of GDDR7 memory. The GPU utilizes a 192-bit memory interface, delivering a bandwidth of 672GB/s.
Nvidia has set the MSRP at $549, which is $50 less than its predecessor, the RTX 4070. While that may sound lucrative, it is important to consider that board partners will charge a premium over the MSRP and we cannot rule out scalpers and inflated retailer prices out of the picture.

Read more
OpenAI nixes its o3 model release, will replace it with ‘GPT-5’
ChatGPT and OpenAI logos.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced via an X post Wednesday that the company's o3 model is being effectively sidelined in favor of a "simplified" GPT-5 that will be released in the coming months.

https://x.com/sama/status/1889755723078443244

Read more
This Asus OLED laptop just dropped below $1,000 at Best Buy
Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED Q533 front angled view showing display and keyboard.

We're seeing some fantastic laptop deals from Best Buy's Presidents' Day Sale, but this one featuring the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED is up there among the most attractive offers. From its original price of $1,500, it's down to a more affordable $900 following a $600 discount. The sale will run until February 17, but you're going to want to proceed with your purchase as soon as you can because there's a chance that stocks sell out quickly for this powerful and gorgeous laptop.

Why you should buy the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED laptop
Asus is one of the best laptop brands because it makes reliable devices at affordable prices, and while the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED isn't among its entries in our list of the best laptops, it's an excellent example of what it offers. You'll be getting the Intel Core Ultra 9 Series 1 processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card, plus 24GB of RAM that's more than what most top-tier machines are packing. With these specifications, and access to Microsoft's Copilot through Windows 11 Home, you'll be breezing through your daily workload without any slowdowns even when you're multitasking between apps.

Read more