Notre Dame hits 7 TB Wi-Fi mark for USC game

A good look at the railing AP enclosures in the east stands of Notre Dame Stadium. Credit: Paul Kapustka, MSR

As we sort of expected, Notre Dame’s Oct. 21 home game versus the University of Southern California produced another new high-water mark for the new Wi-Fi network at Notre Dame Stadium, with 7 terabytes of Wi-Fi traffic seen during the event, according to Notre Dame network officials.

The new network, part of the Campus Crossing remodel of the classic on-campus venue, has been humming all season, starting with a 6.2 TB night on Sept. 9, when the Fighting Irish hosted Georgia. With historical rival USC in the house, however, Notre Dame fans set new records across the board for Wi-Fi use, including most unique clients (27,399), most concurrently connected clients (21,008) and most peak throughput, 5 Gbps. It probably didn’t hurt that Notre Dame crushed the Trojans that day by a 49-14 score, which probably made it into many selfies with the scoreboard in the background.

The 7.0 TB mark puts the Notre Dame-USC game into the No. 5 spot on our unofficial all-time list of single-day Wi-Fi data usage totals, behind just Super Bowls and some recent big-game NFL events. It also gives Notre Dame the No. 1 and No. 2 marks when it comes to collegiate events, at least for now (we’ll be on the lookout for the College Football Playoff championship game this season at Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium).

NOTRE DAME 2017 SEASON WI-FI NETWORK STATS

THE LATEST TOP 10 FOR WI-FI

1. Super Bowl 51, NRG Stadium, Houston, Feb. 5, 2017: Wi-Fi: 11.8 TB
2. Super Bowl 50, Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif., Feb. 7, 2016: Wi-Fi: 10.1 TB
3. Kansas City Chiefs vs. New England Patriots, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass., Sept. 7, 2017: Wi-Fi: 8.08 TB
4. Green Bay Packers vs. Dallas Cowboys, Divisional Playoffs, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, Jan. 15, 2017: Wi-Fi: 7.25 TB
5. Southern California vs. Notre Dame, Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Ind., Oct. 21, 2017: 7.0 TB
6. WrestleMania 32, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, April 3, 2016: Wi-Fi: 6.77 TB
7. Super Bowl 49, University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz., Feb. 1, 2015: Wi-Fi: 6.23 TB
8. Georgia vs. Notre Dame, Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Ind., Sept. 9, 2017: Wi-Fi: 6.2 TB
9. Alabama vs. Texas A&M, Kyle Field, College Station, Texas, Oct. 17, 2015: Wi-Fi: 5.7 TB
10. Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots, AFC Championship Game, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass., Jan. 22, 2017: Wi-Fi: 5.11 TB

Comments

  1. Amazing the amount of data running through the WiFi at these stadiums. More amazing to me is where the internet capacity is coming from. I understand USC in LA or Superbowl 50 in Santa Clara, but I’m guessing these stadiums must have a stack of Gigabit circuits coming in to handle that load. Does anyone know? Please comment.

    5 to 10 Gigs, I’m guessing?
    Bobby Vassallo

  2. A lot of the university stadiums have great backbone bandwidth thanks to longstanding connections to the Internet. Notre Dame, for example, is on the I-Light network and many campuses have similar connectivity. In many of the pro stadiums providers like Comcast, CenturyLink and Cox Communications bring connections in from their metro networks, typically as part of a sponsorship deal.

  3. And to further answer your question 5-10 Gbps is low end these days. Newer stadiums like Golden 1 Center in Sacramento and SunTrust Park in Atlanta have twin 100 Gbps pipes coming in. Most big stadiums have some multiple of 10 Gbps, usually at least two for redundancy. Little Caesars Arena in Detroit has a similar deal with Comcast.

  4. Thanks for the reply, Paul. I know major universities which don’t have 10 Gigs, so 100 to a stadium is mind-boggling. Thank you for your good work.

  5. I’d just add that the Internet pipe is, in my humble opinion, not the limiting factor here. It’s the AP’s. In 2017, we averaged 1.5 TB of data transferred via WiFi per game at AT&T Park, leverage a 3Gbps pipe–which we never maxed out. We will be upgrading to 10Gbps for 2018, but I honestly cannot envision a scenario where we would max out that circuit with fan usage in the near term–even in a World Series.

    Great to have 100Gbps if someone else is paying for it, but I think it’s overkill. Big time.

    My $0.02…

  6. Lol. Love the input. Yes, throughput at the AP is the limiting factor, although access points continue to improve. We have a couple of smaller arenas to do in the near future and I’m excited about the prospect. Hotels and convention centers are fun, but stadiums and arenas are the true challenge. City Wireless Networks are a favorite, though. Good luck in ’18.
    Bobby Vassallo

  7. Paul,
    What’s the latest on usage at Notre Dame? Any new projects going? We have high school stadiums to do this year, but a high school stadium can be huge! You cannot imagine what they build down here these days. What equipment are you liking presently?
    Bobby Vassallo

  8. No updates yet but the ND folks are pretty good at providing numbers so stay tuned. In terms of equipment I don’t rate ’em I just report on what people are using… still seeing a good mix in the market, you can just read the stories to see whose gear is being used where…

  9. Paul! I’d love to see an update on usage now that the season’s over. LSU/Clemson must have been epic, although I’m not sure what WiFi they’re running at the Mercedes. Love your reports!
    Bobby Vassallo

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