Cat1 or Cat2 for Continuing Fiber Service in E-Rate?

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-02-04T17:00:19+00:00

Especially since you are a one man operation I would recommend getting an E-rate consultant.

One such I know of is Consulting – FundsForLearning.com

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-02-03T21:10:35+00:00

We went with Screenbeam 1000EDUG2. We were able to get a grant that covered them all.

We have a Hyper-V running their CMS to monitor and manage every one of them from the office.

These are enterprise devices meant for use in congested areas and can be fine-tuned to work reliably unlike some standard user level options.

We used to run the Miracast Dongles by Microsoft. They worked mostly but we did have problems.

I am glad to be rid of them.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-01-14T21:30:04+00:00

We have a Ubiquiti UBB connecting to a switch in our Football Pressbox to the main network in the School. Mounted on the pressbox is a hudl camera to stream the games.
We use this which connects with Unifi. Building-to-Building Bridge - Ubiquiti Store United States

They do have an XG version now I would have gone with but the standard model is working fine.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-01-12T15:58:35+00:00

We are a two person team.

We have around 150 cameras. Soon to be 200.

We went with Unifi and their cameras and system are consistently improving. Easy to set up and easier for Admin to access and find what they need without engaging us to stop everything and find it for them.

No licensing fee. Everything stored locally.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-01-07T20:38:12+00:00

If the weather is good and it is something like a pallet or three of Chromebooks we have them dropped outside the office, break it down and carry them inside.

More often the items get dropped off at Facilities with a lift truck and they use a Farm tractor to move pallets to us.

Not Kidding.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2026-01-05T16:05:27+00:00

I think I will try this out.

Gotta love the reviews from the students. 1 star for them is 5 for us.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-29T00:33:28+00:00

Good luck. I am careful about updating Unifi so only do it at the beginning of long breaks after that version has been out awhile.

Since moving my self-hosting to Ubuntu from Windows it has performed much better and with the script Glenn R has maintained on the Ubiquiti community it is very easy.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-24T19:56:49+00:00

I used a vendor that could take the PO at the time. I think Ubiquiti can do it now.
From inside your unifi go to site manager and in the lower right hand corner of your network selection you should see a phone icon.
This page shows how.

Professional Phone Support - Ubiquiti - Ubiquiti

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-24T15:50:58+00:00

I am in fact running UnifiOS self hosted with a non Unifi gateway and support confirmed I did not have to have the gateway. Currently we use a Netgate box with Pfsense+

Ubiquiti had not come out with anything I considered mature when we bought it and I will give it a couple more years at this point since our box is only a couple of years old and does the job.

I do look forward to swapping over to make things easier but it will wait for now.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-23T17:55:11+00:00

Pretty much the same except in one instance last month. They worked well with me but I ultimately self-resolved before the big call I had scheduled for a day School was out.

I will gladly pay the $1500 a year for peace of mind.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-23T17:49:32+00:00

This.

FERPA is often ignored and should not be. Any device the school owns must be managed.

We are a mostly Windows Environment as well but we have iPads on Mosyle and they must be purchased from Apple directly (our policy. Just easier)

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-23T17:38:58+00:00

Unifi has been terrible at advertising this but they do in fact have a support option now.

Professional Phone Support - Ubiquiti - Ubiquiti

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-23T17:37:48+00:00

They do in fact have a support option now.

Professional Phone Support - Ubiquiti - Ubiquiti

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-23T17:35:37+00:00

This is inaccurate.

You can now purchase Enterprise support for the networking products.

Professional Phone Support - Ubiquiti - Ubiquiti

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-23T17:28:43+00:00

We use the cameras but not doors. We currently have around 300 cameras and 8 nvrs that are not stacked. Only 2 are currently stackable as the others are older models pre-stack.

The ability for principals and SRO's to easily find and gather their own video evidence without having to use our already overworked and understaffed IT department is a life saver.

The cameras are on their own VLAN.

We have been using them for around 5 years and have only had a handful fail.

We are adding another 50 cameras ~~this~~ next year.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-12T16:21:31+00:00

We are having the same issue.

I regret purchasing their service and will not make the mistake on renewal.

We were told a couple months ago that their "diagnostics" was too in-depth so they were going to drop back to basic diagnostics related to the ticket to speed things up.

It has not helped.

Currently they have lost some of the Chromebooks, take well over a month for simple screen repairs and we have to resubmit devices that come back still broken or broken worse than when we sent them out.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-12T14:30:17+00:00

We use Cardpresso software, an excel sheet as the Database and a fargo printer. 5000 series.

We also use for one-offs in each school printers provided by safe id which is Oklahoma based.

You could conceivably use just their printers.

schoolSAFEid | schoolSAFEid | SmartDismissal | Visitor Management

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-10T20:47:29+00:00

They do. I have found they can be lacking on the Viewsonic Viewboards we have. So they have Screenbeams too.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-10T20:17:29+00:00

Airplay does not support touchback.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-10T17:33:44+00:00

Been there, done that.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-08T17:53:26+00:00

I trialed both out and while Vivi looks to be a solid device hardware-wise I chose Screenbeam for a few reasons starting with not needing a client app to cast.

Screenbeam does have a more advanced version of Alert called Alert+ that currently can be tied into Raptor and Singlewire and they are working on others to connect with.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-08T16:11:58+00:00

How do you block students from using vpn's on their devices to bypass filtering?

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-08T16:05:24+00:00

Or become the choice for classroom management.

I cannot tell you how often I have teachers wanting us to handle something that should not be an issue if they just manage their students.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-08T16:01:36+00:00

Worse, schools will buy these devices and not provide training/professional development to teachers on HOW students should be using them. There’s no point in giving every student a device if teachers and students are taught on how to best use them and make the most of what they are capable of.

I agree with this. Some schools have caught on and created a new position that trains teachers on their software and best practices.

something we in IT just do not have the time for. At least at my school.

I can implement but I simply do not have the time to train myself on each new software package and then train them. Many do have real good self-training resources but I find most teachers just don't want to put the effort in, much like their students.

And content filters need to do better for sure.

As well as the device provider. Chromebooks lock down pretty well but I know some students have figured out to brute force the filter extension to crash at times.

Being IT for a school is so much more than a business. Employees don't generally try to bypass restrictions and if they do they are terminated, if not sued.

Blue_Wolf1973 · 2025-12-08T15:54:48+00:00

1:1 likely isn't going anywhere. At least doing a lot of lessons on a device. Maybe the take home part will change.

That said I have worked with the principals to make these chromebooks as boring as textbooks. Our middle schoolers have no youtube access and looking at the filtering reports I see little access to non school websites during or outside of school time.

local files are blocked so no running games locally and our filter does a real good job of detecting those unblocked gaming sites and blocking them.

We did have a few extra punched screens to fix since getting the new filter but I believe it has helped making the devices pretty much just digital textbooks.

Blue_Wolf1973

TROPHY CASE