Case Study: PowerNet Global Communications achieves reliable free community Wi‑Fi and bridges the digital divide in Avondale with RUCKUS Networks

A Community now Covered in Reliable Wi-Fi

Powernet, a Cincinnati network integrator known for civic work, identified a digital‑divide problem in Avondale after learning that Oyler School and many local residents lacked reliable broadband. Without home Internet, students and adults struggled with education, job searches and accessing city services, and only a handful of public hotspots and a church provided limited access.

Powernet deployed a community Wi‑Fi network using Ruckus T300 outdoor APs (with P300 backhaul) and its Beyond Wi‑Fi management platform, later expanding coverage with R500/R700 APs in nine renovated apartment buildings funded by a HUD Choice Neighborhoods grant, the school district and partners. The network now supports hundreds of concurrent users (with 85% returning), is used mainly for education and job search, and serves as a model for sustainable public–private programs that extend broadband access and bridge digital equity in Avondale.

PowerNet Global Communications

Joe Bradley

Business Account Executive of Sales