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Mobilitie gets DAS contract for San Jose Earthquakes’ Avaya Stadium

March 9, 2015 by Paul Kapustka

Good look at the steep pitch of stands at Avaya Stadium. Credit: Avaya Stadium

It’s not deployed yet and there’s not a lot of details yet but we can confirm that Mobilitie will be building the neutral host DAS deployment at the San Jose Earthquakes’ new Avaya Stadium in San Jose, a facility that gets its “official” launch later this month.

The new $100 million Avaya Stadium, which hosted its first event in a preseason game on Feb. 28, will officially open with the Quakes’ home MLS opener against Chicago on March 22. While the Ruckus Wireless-powered Wi-Fi network in the stadium is reportedly already live, the DAS isn’t yet complete and may not be in time for the season opener. Mobilitie officials confirmed the deal Monday but didn’t have more details to share but we are sure we’ll hear more as antennas get connected and contracts get signed.

The Mobilitie deal was first “reported” in an advertorial that ran in Sports Business Journal, where the Earthquakes also talked about bringing in-seat food and beverage ordering to their still-under-development stadium app. Mobile Sports Report will be at the home opener, so look for a Stadium Tech Report after that visit. Any Quakes fans who were at the preseason game, feel free to add your observations about the new arena in the comments.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, MLS, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, Avaya Stadium, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, Mobilitie, Paul Kapustka, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

DGP gets deal to extend DAS outside Levi’s Stadium

February 11, 2015 by Paul Kapustka

Franks and DAS: DGP DAS antennas above food station at Levi’s Stadium. Photo credit: Paul Kapustka, MSR

DAS Group Professionals, the company that installed the neutral-host DAS inside Levi’s Stadium, now has a deal to extend the DAS outside the Levi’s walls, covering parts of the city of Santa Clara, Calif., that surround the stadium.

With next year’s Super Bowl set to take place at Levi’s Stadium, it makes sense that city officials would want to make sure the parking lots and other pre-game gathering areas outside the venue had good cellular connectivity. At the most recent Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., neutral host provider Crown Castle did an extensive job of building the “oDAS” or outside DAS in the spaces surrounding the University of Phoenix Stadium.

According to DGP, it will design, build and maintain an oDAS for the City of Santa Clara, initially targeting the area around the Great America theme park and the Santa Clara Convention Center, which sit on the other side of the main Levi’s Stadium parking lots. Like the DAS inside the stadium, access to the network outside the stadium will be offered to all major wireless carriers, who must pay DGP and the city for access to the network.

While the network will definitely come in handy for pre- and post-game connectivity following Levi’s Stadium events, it will also improve overall cellular performance in the area, which is also the home to several large corporate office buildings as well as the busy convention center.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, Super Bowl Tagged With: AT&T, Calif., DAS, DGP, Levi's Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, San Francisco 49ers, Santa Clara, Super Bowl 50, Verizon Wireless

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

February 4, 2015 by Paul Kapustka

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

Super DAS: AT&T, Verizon beefed up Phoenix area with mobile cell towers and more DAS

February 2, 2015 by Paul Kapustka

AT&T Cell on Wheels (COW) deployment outside the ESPNZone in Phoenix. Credit all photos: AT&T (click on any photo for a larger image)

While we wait for the traffic stats from the incredibly exciting Super Bowl XLIX, here’s the final installment of our Super DAS series — in which the two major U.S. wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, provide some details about how they beefed up coverage in and around Phoenix to handle the expected Super Bowl communications crush.

The lengths to which AT&T and Verizon went to ensure no signals were dropped are interesting from several business points of view; to be sure, no major carrier wants Twitter to erupt with reports of dropped calls from a major event. (AT&T folks still grimace when you bring up the historical benchmark for this type of problem, SXSW and Twitter.)

The flood-the-zone type of temporary enhancements now brought in on a regular basis for big events also point out the ongoing need for distributed antenna system (DAS) deployments: the basic fact of our ever more connected lives simply means that for large public venues, or places where lots of people gather at once, the legacy cellular network designs simply can’t keep up.

ESPNZone DAS gear in underground garage

To make sure it could, AT&T said it deployed 10 cell towers on wheels (aka “COWS”) to the Phoenix area in advance of the weekend, while also upgrading its equipment at DAS installations like the one Crown Castle had at the University of Phoenix Stadium as well as at other points around town. AT&T folks were kind enough to supply us with plenty of photos of the deployments — we especially like the DAS built in an underground garage near the ESPNZone outlet in Phoenix.

Verizon also said it deployed 13 COWs and upgraded many DAS deployments in the Phoenix area prior to the Super Bowl, and even said it had a team of network technicians on hand to make sure traffic kept running smoothly.

How did it all work out? So far, we haven’t seen any reports of missed cellular connections during Super Bowl weekend (which also included the Waste Management golf tournament in the area, further adding to cellular pressure). What it does make us wonder about is the economic solution in the future to big-crowd wireless traffic concerns, which clearly aren’t limited to inside the event venue anymore. Are more portable deployments the way forward, or will we see more DAS installations that can be upgraded quickly on the fly?

More photos below!

AT&T COW with box on roof

Another AT&T COW

AT&T COW at Wild Horse Pass

AT&T COW deployment in downtown Phoenix

Downtown COW on a roof

ESPNZone DAS cabling run

Hyatt Gainey Ranch COW

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, NFL, Super Bowl, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: AT&T, Cell on Wheels, COW, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, Phoenix, Super Bowl, Super Bowl cellular, University of Phoenix Stadium, Verizon Wireless

Super DAS, Part 2: Super Bowl stadium DAS expands to address increased demand for cellular connectivity

January 27, 2015 by Paul Kapustka

Editor’s note: This story is part 2 of a series of profiles of the providers of the extensive Distributed Antenna System (DAS) deployment for Super Bowl XLIX at and around the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. and other parts of the Phoenix city area as well. Stay tuned all week as we highlight how DAS will keep Super Bowl fans connected, no matter where they roam in and around Phoenix and Glendale this week and weekend.

DAS antenna inside the University of Phoenix Stadium. Credit all photos: TE Connectivity

Two years ago, the University of Phoenix Stadium had a pretty good distributed antenna system (DAS) network to handle cellular communications inside the building. But with Super Bowl XLIX coming to the Glendale, Ariz., facility this year, pretty good wouldn’t be good enough — so the stadium’s network operators expanded the DAS by almost 50 percent in preparation for the game-day network surge expected on Feb. 1.

For fans attending the big game with cellular devices in hand that information may be comforting enough; thanks to a bigger, better DAS that is built to service all the major U.S. wireless carriers, they should have no problem getting a signal. Stadium technology professionals, however, usually want to know more about such expansion plans: What does it really mean to increase DAS capacity? How does that new DAS stack up to others in different stadiums and arenas?

More sectors means more capacity

For the Crown Castle neutral-host DAS at the University of Phoenix Stadium, there is one quick measure of how much the DAS expanded: More sectors. In DAS parlance, a “sector” is an area that has a dedicated amount of base station capacity; for the University of Phoenix Stadium DAS, the number of sectors increased from 33 two years ago to 48 sectors now, according to John Spindler, director for product management at DAS gear maker TE Connectivity. TE’s FlexWave Prism and FlexWave Spectrum DAS gear are part of the infrastructure deployed by neutral host Crown Castle in the UoP network.

John Spindler, TE Connectivity

Without getting too deep into telecom physics, more sectors in the same amount of space means more capacity. And when it comes to all the different flavors of phones and carrier spectrum, there’s a lot that goes into a DAS to use up that capacity. With all four major U.S. carriers (AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile) using the DAS, the infrastructure must support a full range of cellular spectrum, from 700 MHz LTE signals to LTE, CDMA, UMTS and EVDO signals in the 800 MHz, 850 MHz, 1900 MHz and 2100 MHz bands. The DAS inside the stadium will use 228 remote antenna units, according to Crown Castle.

“More frequencies, more MIMO [multiple-in, multiple-out antenna-enhancement technology] and heavier sectoring,” is how Spindler described the general needs for most DAS upgrades, and for the UoP DAS, where Spindler foresees another big number for Super Bowl stadium DAS traffic on Feb. 1.

“I would expect to see record [DAS] numbers,” Spindler said.

One DAS to rule them all

DAS active integration panel

Last year, the DAS situation at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey was especially tough to explain, since both AT&T and Verizon built their own separate infrastructures. According to AT&T its DAS customers at Super Bowl XLVIII used 624 gigabytes of traffic, a record then but a figure that has been surpassed many times this past football season at both college and pro football venues (the recent College Football Playoff championship game, for instance, saw 1.4 TB of DAS traffic for AT&T customers at AT&T Stadium). Verizon claimed last year that its customers used 1.9 TB of wireless data during the Super Bowl, but Verizon never provided specifics whether that number represented just DAS traffic, or Verizon customer usage of the MetLife Wi-Fi network as well.

Either way, the guess is that the DAS at the University of Phoenix Stadium will set new Super Bowl traffic records on Feb. 1, and by all accounts the infrastructure seems ready to handle it. Spindler, for one, said the Crown Castle DAS is “definitely well designed.” And Travis Bugh, senior wireless consultant for CDW (which installed the new Wi-Fi system at UoP), said he was also impressed by the performance of the Crown Castle DAS, which he said seems more than ready for the coming Super Bowl crush.

NEXT: What are the carriers doing to supplement the DAS coverage?

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, NFL, Seattle Seahwaks, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, 700 MHz, AT&T, Crown Castle, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, Sprint, Stadium Wi-Fi, T-Mobile, TE Connectivity, University of Phoenix Stadium, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

Championship games traffic stats: AT&T DAS hits high-water marks; Seahawks Wi-Fi sees 1.6 TB of data

January 26, 2015 by Paul Kapustka

Just a quick update on some wireless usage statistics from the recent NFL championship games in New England and Seattle: According to AT&T, the AT&T customers on the DAS networks at both stadiums hit high-water marks for the host teams this season, well above the traffic averages. And maybe due to their team’s lackluster play for most of the game, fans at CenturyLink Field in Seattle didn’t give the stadium’s new Wi-Fi network a record workout, but did end up using about 1.6 terabytes of data during the Seahawks’ come-from-behind win over the Green Bay Packers.

On the DAS side, AT&T said that the two championship games “resulted in the two greatest data traffic increases of the 10 playoff games compared to their regular season data traffic averages.” During the Patriots’ blowout of the Colts, AT&T customers on the DAS at Gillette Stadium used 444GB of data, a 44 percent increase over the regular-season average at Gillette; and in Seattle, AT&T DAS customers used 496GB, 53 percent higher than the regular-season average at CenturyLink. Remember, these stats are for AT&T customers only, on DAS networks in stadiums where AT&T has a DAS deployment; Mobile Sports Report requested similar data from Verizon Wireless, but Verizon did not respond. AT&T summed up its playoff DAS findings in this press release page.

According to Chip Suttles, vice president of technology for the Seahawks, the CenturyLink Wi-Fi networks saw 20,064 unique users during the NFC championship game, with a peak concurrent user number of 16,078. At CenturyLink there are actually two fan-facing Wi-Fi networks, one exclusively for Verizon customers and the other for all other device users; according to Suttles there was 1.2 TB of data consumed on the main CenturyLink Wi-Fi network, and 198 GB used on the Verizon-only network. Interestingly, media at the game used more data than the Verizon customers, with 223 GB of Wi-Fi traffic used by press, according to Suttles. We also requested statistics from the Wi-Fi operators at Gillette, but have not heard anything back yet.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, NFL, Seattle Seahwaks, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: AT&T, CenturyLink Field, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, New England Patriots, NFL championships, Paul Kapustka, Seattle Seahawks, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon Wi-Fi, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi