After Less Than A Year, Verizon Pulls Plug On Affordable WiFi For Alabama Schools
The OmniLynx website is still up, but the school district notified current customers that their service is slated to be terminated as of Nov. 30.
For $47.75/month (without a contract), OmniLynx users got a free Verizon LTE hotspot and unlimited data access. At first, it was available to just Huntsville school system employees before being expanded to cover students and their families, then anyone in Huntsville. The school tells AL.com that around 1,900 people have signed up since OmniLynx launched in January, and that around 120 a day were signing up until last week, when Verizon brought down the hammer.
On Oct. 30, Verizon informed the school district that it had gone “beyond the terms of the agreement” and was canceling the partnership.
The school district informed OmniLynx customers of the bad news this week.
“We regret to inform you that your wireless service will terminate effective November 30, 2015,” reads the letter to customers, according to WHNT-TV. “This termination of service and any resulting inconvenience has resulted from the service provider, Verizon Wireless… and its decision to discontinue its support of the program. Needless to say, this circumstance is unfortunate and we are disappointed by Verizon’s decision – particularly in light of the fact that Verizon publicly endorsed and applauded the OmniLynx program less than one year ago.”
In response to the Verizon notice, Huntsville schools superintendent Dr. Casey Wardnyski told AL.com that Verizon’s “concern for education was dwarfed by some other concern.”
It appears that Big V wasn’t thrilled that OmniLynx use had expanded beyond the borders of the Huntsville area.
But Wardnyski says that view is “short-sighted” and that the intention was to always expand the program and offer unlimited data.
“Verizon had the capability to limit the service area,” he explains.
The school district tells WHNT that it will try to find another partner for the service.
For its part, all Verizon has said thus far, is that “Verizon has and will continue to discuss this situation directly with Huntsville City Schools.”
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