AT&T: Fans Set Cellular Data Record at Super Bowl, Again

According to the folks at AT&T, fans in the New Orleans Superdome Sunday night set another record for cellular traffic, with 388 GB traversing AT&T’s in-dome network during the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. What’s somewhat staggering about the number is that it doesn’t include any of the traffic that was sent out over the in-dome Wi-Fi network recently installed by Verizon and Cisco; AT&T’s numbers are just for the cellular infrastructure and the DAS deployment Ma Bell put in the Superdome last year.

Guessing that Verizon’s numbers will also be bigger — according to a recent story in Ars Technica Verizon saw 225 GB of bandwidth used during last year’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis, where AT&T saw 215 GB of usage on its networks. If Verizon’s numbers are similar to AT&T’s (from reports we saw on Twitter the Wi-Fi network performed well, even during the third-quarter blackout) then there was probably something like 800 GB of data flying out of the Superdome Sunday, maybe even close to 1,000 GB if you throw in Sprint and T-Mobile numbers, which we probably won’t get.

So it’s pretty damn clear: Fans like using mobile devices at big sports events. And we haven’t quite reached the peak yet, since every successive Super Bowl sets a new record. We are guessing this trend will continue for some time, since there isn’t even a good in-stadium app yet to really make people do things other than send pictures and texts to people who aren’t at the stadium. So — this journey has really just begun.

Some other interesting nuggets from the folks at AT&T, who said that their network didn’t go down during the blackout:

— AT&T’s peak hour of data usage at the Big Game occurred during halftime and during the stadium’s temporary power outage, from 8 to 9 pm EST. AT&T customers consumed 78 GB during this hour on the in-stadium mobility network, which is nearly double the amount of data that AT&T customers used during the peak hour at last year’s Big Game in Indianapolis.

— During the hour of halftime and the stadium’s temporary power outage, from 8 to 9 pm EST, customers made more calls, sent nearly twice as many SMS texts and consumed approximately 10 GB more data than they did during any other hour of the event.

— AT&T customers also made more than 73,000 mobile calls during the game.

Super Bowl Gets Wi-Fi Network, Will be Checking for Rogue Hotspots

There’s a new Wi-Fi network in the Superdome, and they will be checking you at the door to make sure you’re not screwing it up with a rogue hotspot or a camera that is broadcasting a Wi-Fi signal.

You can read an excellent article at Ars Technica, which breaks down the new Verizon-Cisco network inside the stadium. Verizon is quietly getting more involved in stadium networks, but is not publicizing their deployments — maybe because they don’t want everyone asking for the sweetheart deals Verizon may be giving NFL stadiums? Remember, Verizon and the NFL have an agreement over mobile coming up for re-negotiation soon… maybe Verizon is trying to win favor with Rog and the boys by putting in Wi-Fi for free? Stay tuned or tell us what you hear… the Wi-Fi whisperer is listening.

AT&T adds DAS Coverage to New Orleans for Super Bowl Crowds

AT&T has beefed up its cellular coverage in the New Orleans downtown area by installing several Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) to help handle the expected crowds for the forthcoming Super Bowl on Feb. 3.

According to an AT&T press release Ma Bell has added some outdoor DAS systems as well as DAS deployments inside New Orleans hotels to help ensure that Super Bowl fans stay connected with their mobile devices. For those new to cellular technologies, DAS is basically a bunch of smaller cellular antennas that get spread around strategic locations where large crowds might gather, to bring more capacity to the cellular cloud. You can put up DAS antennas outside, on street poles, or inside places like hotels. There they act just like regular cellular antennas, connecting to the closest handsets.

Just to make sure that important call, tweet or Facebook post gets through, AT&T will also deploy 11 temporary cell sites to the Big Easy for Super week — the cleverly named COWs or Cell towers On Wheels — and if all else fails you can look for one of the 135 existing AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots in the New Orleans area.

We expect other major cell providers to chime in with their Super Bowl enhancements soon. The good news is, the Mercedes Benz Superdome had a pretty major DAS upgrade of its own last year so cell service inside should be OK.

Just in Time for BCS, AT&T Adds 4G LTE to DAS at Sun Life Stadium

It isn’t Wi-Fi, but at least AT&T customers at the BCS Championship game next Monday should see an improved 4G LTE signal, thanks to an upgrade of the existing Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at Sun Life Stadium in Miami.

A local press release (no link) from AT&T’s Florida operations saluted the wireless upgrade, which was actually installed in time for the Jan. 1 Orange Bowl. According to the release, the 4G LTE upgrade was accompanied by more antennas, some facing outward from the stadium walls so that fans coming to the game wouldn’t find their signals lost. Here’s the money quote from the release:

“We know football fans at the stadium will want to use their smartphones to share photos, videos and texts during the big games with friends back home,” said AT&T Florida President Marshall Criser. “The investment we’ve made in the upgrades at the stadium will help make that possible.”

Mobile Sports Report will be watching the game in 3D in Las Vegas, courtesy of the fine folks at ESPN… drop us a line if you are at CES and want to talk Mobile Sports!

Wednesday Wi-Fi Whispers: Lots of Networking at F1 Race in Austin

If you are a fan of F1 racing you might be headed down to Austin, Texas this weekend for the Austin Grand Prix at the new Circuit of The Americas course. From what we can deduce, it should be a good place to connect with your mobile device, since we have seen two press releases over the past weeks talking about wireless deployments at the track. But will there be free fan Wi-Fi? Probably, but we’re not sure yet.

We’re not sure because the main press release — from our friends at AT&T — talks mainly about how Ma Bell wired this place for high capacity data transfers, which we are guessing means lots of fiber for set video camera positions and the whole boatload of car-performance stats that regularly fly around the ether at any big-time motorsports event. From the sounds of it the new AT&T network should support fan Wi-Fi — but unfortunately neither AT&T nor the course/race website makes any mention of whether or not there will be free Wi-Fi for fans.

In case you’re wondering, we think such information omissions are a big mistake. But we are checking with AT&T and the race folks to see what’s up.

In the meantime, if you are a Verizon customer your cell phone should also work better at the track, thanks to an independent Distributed Antenna System (DAS) infrastructure put in place by our friends at ExteNet, a company that has built similar deployments at other sporting stadiums, like the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn. According to ExteNet its DAS will improve cellular reception around the track, mainly for Verizon customers this year since Verizon is the only cellular provider using the ExteNet solution right now. Since ExteNet builds independent networks — which means any provider can sign up and pay ExteNet to carry signals from their customers — other providers like Sprint or T-Mobile may join up for future events. Our guess is that AT&T won’t have to. The cool thing is, fans should be able to share photos and videos of the F1 racers as quickly as possible. And that is a good thing.

Giants Fans at AT&T Park Sent Lots of Texts During World Series, But Also Watched the Game

Our friends over at AT&T sent us some interesting wireless network stats from last week’s first two games of this year’s World Series, which were played in the San Francisco Giants’ well-wired home, AT&T Park. With the stadium’s state-of-the-art wireless infrastructure, it’s perhaps no surprise that fans consumed multiple gigabits of data, both sending and receiving.

We’ll include all the raw stats below — including some fun ones like the 53,000 SMS text messsages sent in the 6 p.m. hour of Game 1, the time span during which eventual Series MVP Pablo Sandoval hit his second and third home runs of the game — but what jumped out at us was the fact that voice calls peaked before the games started and data traffic peaked within the first hour. To us, that meant what happened was what we’ve believed all along: That fans do like to send a picture or a photo of themselves at big games, or call friends who aren’t there, but then once the games start they’re watching what’s happening on the field.

So even in Tweet-happy and iPhone-crazy San Francisco, the great fears of fans only looking at their phones and forgetting to cheer isn’t something that’s going to happen anytime soon. If nothing else, the players on the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals can tell you that fans at AT&T Park were certainly paying attention and directing all their attention to the field, quite loudly at times. It might be some time before others believe cell phones and sporting events can co-exist, but we’re here to tell you it’s already happening now.

(Stats and figures below courtesy of AT&T, describing the stats their network folks compiled based on fans’ usage of our network during Games 1 and 2 of the World Series at AT&T Park in San Francisco.)

2012 World Series – games 1 & 2

· Fans still love the long ball – More than 15 percent more data was uploaded and nearly 20,000 more texts were shared on our network inside the park (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) during game one than game two of the 2012 World Series at AT&T Park.

· A text speaks 1,000 words – AT&T mobile users sent and received more than 350,000 texts across our network during the first two games of the World Series (between the hours of 4-9pm PST).

· Hush up, the game’s about to start – For both of the first two games of the 2012 World Series at AT&T Park (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) the most calls made on AT&T’s Network occurred during the hour directly preceding the game’s first pitch (4-5 pm PST).

· Fastest fingers – The hourly data upload and hourly total data peaks occurred in the first hour (5-6 pm PST) of both game one and two (between the hours of 4-9pm PST). Data uploaded as well as total data volumes decreased during each hour the game went on (between the hours of 4-9pm PST).

Additional Data

Game 1

· The hourly data upload peak of 16.2 GB (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) occurred in the hour in which Pablo Sandoval hit his first home run

· The peak point in hourly total data consumption (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) happened in the first hour of the game with a total volume of 35.3 GB passing through AT&T’s Network.

· AT&T subscribers downloaded the most data – 18.3 GB – during the 6 pm hour (between the hours of 4-9pm PST)

· AT&T mobile users sent and received the most texts (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) during the 6pm hour, the hour in which Pablo Sandoval hit his second and then his historic third home run, with more than 53,000 SMS texts sent and delivered across AT&T’s Network. That’s more than one text for every fan in the stadium. (Total attendance – 42,855)

· For the opening game of the 2012 World Series at AT&T Park (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) the most calls made on AT&T’s Network occurred during the hour directly preceding the game’s first pitch.

Game 2

· The hourly data upload peak of 13.8 GB (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) occurred in the hour in which the first pitch was thrown

· The peak point in hourly total data consumption (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) happened in the first hour of the game with a total volume of 33.1 GB passing through AT&T’s Network.

· AT&T subscribers downloaded the most data – 20.6 GB – during the 6 pm hour (between the hours of 4-9pm PST)

· AT&T mobile users sent and received the most texts (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) during the 7pm hour with more than 42,000 SMS texts sent and delivered across AT&T’s Network. That’s nearly one text for every fan in the stadium. (Total attendance – 42,982)

· For the second game of the 2012 World Series at AT&T Park (between the hours of 4-9pm PST) the most calls made on AT&T’s Network occurred during the hour directly preceding the game’s first pitch.