Patriots’ new Wi-Fi network delivers during playoffs; AFC Champ game hits 5.11 TB mark

January 23, 2017 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Gillette Stadium before the Sept. 11 game vs. the Miami Dolphins. Credit: Steve Milne, AP, via Patriots.com

The new Wi-Fi network installed at the New England Patriots’ Gillette Stadium this season got a good workout during the postseason, with more than half the fans present logging on during the Patriots’ two playoff home games. According to the team, the network saw 5.11 terabytes of data used during Sunday’s game, one of the top Wi-Fi marks we’ve ever reported.

Sunday’s 36-17 New England victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game saw the biggest Wi-Fi traffic numbers, with 38,436 unique users connecting to the network at some point during game day — a 57 percent take rate based on the reported sellout crowd attendance number of 66,829. Original stats provided by Fred Kirsch, publisher & vice president of content at Kraft Sports Productions (and overseer of all things technology at the stadium) showed a total tonnage of 3.70 terabytes for Wi-Fi traffic Sunday, with a peak concurrent client number of 30,824 and a peak throughput total of 3.14 Gbps.

That total was reset to 5.11 TB when Kirsch said additional traffic from “postgame activities” (likely the trophy presentations) was added in. The 5.11 TB mark puts Sunday’s game into the MSR unofficial “Top 5” list of single-day Wi-Fi traffic marks, supplanting the first College Football Playoff championship game, which saw 4.93 TB of Wi-Fi used at AT&T Stadium on Jan. 12, 2015. (We are still waiting for Wi-Fi figures from this year’s CFP champs game, so our list may change again soon!)

The Extreme Networks-based network saw almost a similar stress during the Pats’ 34-16 victory over the Houston Texans on Jan. 14, according to figures from Kirsch. Even though cold, rainy conditions persisted at both games, for the Texans game the Gillette network saw 2.97 TB of total traffic, with 35,536 unique connections — a 53 percent take rate. Peak concurrent connections on Jan. 14 were 28,620, while peak bandwidth use was 2.76 Gbps.

THE NEW TOP 5 FOR WI-FI

1. Super Bowl 50, Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif., Feb. 7, 2016: Wi-Fi: 10.1 TB
2. WrestleMania 32, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, April 3, 2016: Wi-Fi: 6.77 TB
3. Super Bowl XLIX, University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz., Feb. 1, 2015: Wi-Fi: 6.23 TB
4. Alabama vs. Texas A&M, Kyle Field, College Station, Texas, Oct. 17, 2015: Wi-Fi: 5.7 TB
5. Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots, AFC Championship Game, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass., Jan. 22, 2017: Wi-Fi: 5.11 TB

Filed Under: Extreme Networks, NFL, Wi-Fi Tagged With: Extreme Networks, Gillette Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, New England Patriots, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Stadium Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi

Spiking the Surface: Why Microsoft’s NFL deal got thrown for a loss

October 27, 2016 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Bill Belichick’s very thorough takedown of the Microsoft Surface slapped a fried egg on the face of Microsoft’s $400 million deal with the NFL to use the tablets on game-day sidelines. In the latest STADIUM TECH REPORT PODCAST, co-hosts Phil Harvey and Paul Kapustka explore why the deal was flawed from the beginning, and whether or not wireless technology can be counted on to perform in NFL sideline environments.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST:

Here is the link to the podcast on iTunes!

Filed Under: iPad, NFL, Tablets, Wi-Fi Tagged With: Apple, Bill Belichick, iPad, Microsoft, Microsoft Surface, Mobile Sports Report, New England Patriots, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Stadium Wi-Fi, Surface, Wi-Fi

Patriots upgrade Wi-Fi at Gillette Stadium for 2016 season

September 22, 2016 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Gillette Stadium before the Sept. 18 game vs. the Miami Dolphins. Credit: Steve Milne, AP, via Patriots.com

Gillette Stadium, one of the first NFL arenas to have fan-facing Wi-Fi, more than doubled the number of access points in the venue this past offseason, according to team executives.

Fred Kirsch, who goes by the curious title of publisher & vice president of content at Kraft Sports Productions, is well known in stadium tech circles as the overseer of all things technology for the New England Patriots operation. In a recent phone interview, Kirsch said “the timing was right” for a Wi-Fi upgrade at Gillette, a venue that has had fan-facing Wi-Fi since 2012. The team’s first full-stadium network was installed by Enterasys Networks, which was later acquired by Extreme; prior to that, Gillette Stadium had Wi-Fi for luxury suites and clubs provided by gear from Xirrus.

“The [Wi-Fi] overall technology has changed, so we can really improve it now,” said Kirsch about the team’s decision to beef up its wireless network. With new Wi-Fi standards now in most equipment, Kirsch said it was possible to “put in a lot more APs without channel bleed. All over the stadium, we have better coverage.”

Going under-seat in the bowl

According to Kirsch, Gillette Stadium had previously had about 400 Wi-Fi APs in the original design. After the upgrade was over, Kirsch said the stadium now has more than 1,000 APs, with most of the new devices deployed under seats in the bowl seating areas, the latest team to join this growing deployment trend.

In most of the bowl, Kirsch said his team was able to core through the concrete to install the APs; however, some parts of the stadium sit directly upon granite, leading Kirsch and his crew to improvise a cable-and-tray system to get cabling to the APs under the seats. This procedure necessitated custom-designed enclosures, which introduced a small delay in construction procedures, according to Kirsch.

On the game-day application side of things, Kirsch said that the team’s YinzCam-developed app will support faster access to instant replays, and will also add in a third-party option for fans to take a picture of something that might seem astray (like, perhaps, a broken pipe in a restroom) and send it in via the app. Kirsch said the app will be able to geo-locate where the picture came from, giving the team a precise location of the problem.

Filed Under: Apps, Extreme Networks, NFL, Wi-Fi, YinzCam Tagged With: Extreme Networks, Fred Kirsch, Gillette Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, New England Patriots, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Stadium Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi, YinzCam

NFL Stadium Tech Reviews — AFC East

November 6, 2015 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: The following team-by-team capsule reports of NFL stadium technology deployments are an excerpt from our most recent Stadium Tech Report, THE PRO FOOTBALL ISSUE. To get all the capsules in one place as well as our featured reports, interviews and analysis, download your free copy of the full report today.

AFC EAST

Reporting by Paul Kapustka

Buffalo Bills
Ralph Wilson Stadium
Seating Capacity: 71,757
Wi-Fi – Yes
DAS – Yes

Add the Buffalo Bills to the list of teams that installed Wi-Fi into their stadiums this offseason, as the Bills tapped NFL favorite Extreme Networks for a deployment at Ralph Wilson Stadium that was live for the regular-season opener against the Indianapolis Colts, a game the Bills won 27-14. The team picked Carousel Industries, Extreme Networks and Frey Electric for the deployment, which began in May this year. The Bills said the network went through beta-type testing this summer, at concerts for the Rolling Stones and One Direction, and during the Bills’ preseason schedule.

By our count, this is the ninth NFL stadium to use Extreme gear for its fan-facing Wi-Fi, a signal that Extreme’s preferred-supplier deal with the league is working well for all concerned. So far this season the Baltimore Ravens and the Green Bay Packers have announced Wi-Fi deployments from Extreme.

Last year Ralph Wilson Stadium had a DAS upgrade that has no doubt been upgraded again recently, so for all types of wireless communications the Buffalo fans should be well served this season as they enjoy the Rex Ryan ride.

New England Patriots
Gillette Stadium
Seating Capacity: 68,756
Wi-Fi – Yes
DAS – Yes

The defending Super Bowl champs the New England Patriots continue to make wireless connectivity a priority in Gillette Stadium, with Wi-Fi outfitted by Extreme Networks, and a team-centric Game Day Live mobile app. Unlike most stadiums, the Patriots also have RedZone channel access for mobile users, a real treat for fantasy football fans.

Miami Dolphins
Sun Life Stadium
Seating Capacity: 75,540
Wi-Fi – Yes
DAS – Yes

With more than 1,000 Wi-Fi access points, Sun Life Stadium has always been near or at the top of venues with the most Wi-Fi and DAS traffic generated. A $400+ million renovation this offseason added a host of new amenities, including field-level suites and more concessions. Sounds like it’s still great to be taking your talents to a game in Miami.

New York Jets
MetLife Stadium
Seating Capacity: 82,500
Wi-Fi – Yes
DAS – Yes

There are lots of benefits to hosting a Super Bowl – including the improved connectivity of your stadium. After AT&T and Verizon spent over a year outfitting MetLife Stadium with their own DAS deployments before Super Bowl XLVIII, the stadium saw a 60 percent increase in wireless data from the previous Super Bowl. With more than 850 Wi-Fi APs, MetLife is covered when it comes to wireless.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, NFL, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, Buffalo Bills, DAS, MetLife Stadium, Miami Dolphins, Mobile Sports Report, New England Patriots, New York Jets, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Ralph Wilson Stadium, Stadium Wi-Fi, Sun Life Stadium

Super Bowl XLIX sets new stadium Wi-Fi record with 6.2 Terabytes of data consumed

February 4, 2015 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

University of Phoenix Stadium. Credit: Arizona Cardinals.

The Super Bowl is once again the stadium Wi-Fi champ, as fans at Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz., used 6.23 terabytes of data during the contest, according to the team running the network at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

The 6.23 TB mark blew past the most recent entrant in the “most Wi-Fi used at a single-day single-stadium event” sweepstakes, the 4.93 TB used at the Jan. 12 College Football Playoff championship game at AT&T Stadium. Prior to that, pro football games this past season at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., and at AT&T Stadium had pushed into the 3-plus TB mark to be among the highest totals ever reported.

The live crowd watching the New England Patriots’ 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks also used about as much cellular data as well, with Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint claiming a combined total of 6.56 TB used in and around the stadium on game day. All three carriers were on the in-stadium and outside-the-stadium DAS deployments being run by neutral host Crown Castle. If those figures are correct (more on this later) it would put the total wireless data usage for the event at 12.79 TB, far and away the biggest single day of wireless data use we’ve ever heard of.

Apple OS updates still the application king

Handrails with Wi-Fi antenna enclosures from AmpThink. Credit: Arizona Cardinals.

Mark Feller, vice president of information technology for the Arizona Cardinals, and Travis Bugh, senior wireless consultant for CDW, provided Mobile Sports Report with the final Wi-Fi usage numbers, which are pretty stunning for anyone in the stadium networking profession. According to Feller the new CDW-deployed Wi-Fi network with Cisco gear at the UoP Stadium saw 2.499 TB of data downloaded, and 3.714 TB uploaded, for a total of 6.213 TB of Wi-Fi usage. Bugh of CDW said there were 25,936 unique devices connecting to the network on game day, with a peak concurrent usage of 17,322, recorded not surprisingly at halftime.

Peak download usage of 1.3 Gbps was recorded before the game’s start, while peak upload usage of 2.5 Gbps was hit at halftime. The top applications by bandwidth use, Feller said, were Apple (mobile update), Facebook, Dropbox and Snapchat.

DAS numbers also set new record, but clarification needed

The only reason we aren’t yet trumpeting the 6.564 TB of reported DAS use as a verified record is due to the differences in clarity from each of the reporting providers. We also haven’t yet heard any usage totals from T-Mobile, so it’s likely that the final final wireless data use number is somewhere north of 13 TB, if all can be believed.

Parking lot light poles, Westgate entertainment district. Can you spot the DAS?

As reported before, AT&T said it saw 1.7 TB of cellular wireless activity from its customers on game day, with 696 GB of that happening inside the stadium, and the balance coming from the outside areas before and after the game. We’d also like to welcome Sprint to the big-game reporting crew (thanks Sprint!), with its total of 754 GB of all 4G LTE traffic used in and around the stadium on game day. According to Sprint representatives, its Super Bowl coverage efforts included 5 COWs (cell towers on wheels) as well as expanded DAS and macro placements in various Phoenix-area locations. The Sprint coverage included the 2.5 GHz spectrum that uses TDD LTE technology.

As also previously reported, Verizon Wireless claimed 4.1 TB of customer traffic in and around the stadium on game day, which Verizon claims is all cellular traffic and does not reflect any Verizon Wireless customer use of the stadium Wi-Fi network. Verizon also reported some other interesting activity tidbits, which included 46,772 Verizon Wireless devices used at the game, of which just 59.7 percent were smartphones. Verizon also said it saw 10 million emails sent on its networks that day, and 1.9 million websites visited, while also seeing 122.308 videos sent or received over wireless connections.

We’re still waiting to see if we can get usage numbers from the Super Bowl stadium app (we’re especially interested to see if the instant replay feature caught on) but the warning for stadium owners and operators everywhere seems to be clear: If you’re hosting the big game (or any BIG game), make sure your network is ready for 6 TB and beyond!

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apple, AT&T, Cisco, DAS, iPhone, MSR Guides, NFL, Seattle Seahwaks, Sprint, Super Bowl, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: AT&T, COWs, DAS, Dropbox, Mobile Sports Report, New England Patriots, Paul Kapustka, Seattle Seahawks, SnapChat, Sprint, Stadium Wi-Fi, Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLIX, University of Phoenix Stadium, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

AT&T sets new DAS traffic records for Super Bowl with 1.7 Terabyte mark

February 2, 2015 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

University of Phoenix Stadium

AT&T said its customers set new records for Super Bowl and professional football game wireless data consumption, with a total of 1.7 terabytes of traffic used in and around the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday night.

In a blog post from AT&T senior executive vice president John Donovan AT&T said it saw 696 gigabytes of wireless data used on its in-stadium DAS Sunday night, with an additional 1 TB used in and around the stadium in the surrounding parking lots and the Westgate entertainment district, a mall/restaurant complex that is connected to the UoP stadium area. The 1.7 TB mark surpasses the 1.4 TB DAS mark AT&T saw at the recent College Football Playoff championship game in Arlington, Texas, on Jan. 12.

Donovan’s blog post contains some interesting looks back — with a peak usage of 125 GB per hour Sunday, AT&T saw another new high mark, one that seems to say that usage of wireless data at stadiums is still climbing with no roof (retractable or not) in sight. Here’s a couple quotes:

Since 2011 – inclusive of the last five Big Games – the total data usage on AT&T’s in-stadium network has increased from 177GB to 696GB and peak hour data usage has increased from 30GB to 125GB.

And:

These numbers don’t come as a total shock as we experienced several high marks this season. In total, from 253 games at 31 stadiums, our customers have used more than 85.7TB of mobile data on our venue-specific cellular networks. That’s equivalent to more than 245M social media posts with photos from 253 games (an average of almost 1M social media posts per game).

We are still waiting for results from the stadium Wi-Fi network… will the total break the 6 TB mark set at the CFP championship game? Stay tuned! More AT&T infographic fun below.

click on photo for larger image

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Super Bowl Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, New England Patriots, Paul Kapustka, Seattle Seahawks, Super Bowl, Super Bowl wireless data, Super Bowl wireless traffic, Super Bowl XLIX, University of Phoenix Stadium