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Cubs fans on AT&T networks use 1.4 TB of cellular on opening night, more than World Series games

April 13, 2017 by

Bleacher fans at Wrigley Field use their mobile devices to record the team’s World Series banner celebration. Credit: Screen shot of ESPN broadcast

As we found out last fall, having a World Series game at your venue can generate large amounts of wireless traffic, on both cellular and Wi-Fi networks. But as it turns out, celebrating a World Series victory can generate even more traffic, especially when the celebration includes an on-field ceremony made for fan photos from the seats.

According to AT&T, Cubs fans at Wrigley Field for Monday night’s home opener used 1.4 terabytes of wireless data on AT&T’s cellular and DAS (distributed antenna system) in and around the Friendly Confines. That was almost 400 GB more than the biggest AT&T usage report from last fall’s World Series, when Wrigley Field saw 1.006 TB of data used on AT&T networks for Game 3, the first game in Chicago.

Before the Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers played on Monday night, there was a lengthy rain delay where a packed house of fans was waiting for the Cubs to unveil their World Series and National League pennant banners.

The flags, which were mounted on four poles at the back of the centerfield bleachers, became the center of attention when the entire Cubs roster still with the team from last season climbed up into the stands to each take a pull at hoisting the World Series champion banner aloft. As you can tell by the pictures we snapped off the ESPN broadcast, it was a made-for-mobile-device moment, with some lucky fans able to get up close and personal photos of the Cubs players.

After hoisting the banners the Cubs players emerged from the tunnels behind the outfield walls with the World Series trophy and paraded it onto the field, again no doubt attracting more of the photos that eventually were sent over the AT&T networks. It’s a lot of wireless traffic, but no doubt a problem any team in Major League Baseball would be willing to tackle each spring.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, DAS, ESPN, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Verizon: Series fans used 5.3 TB of cellular data at Wrigley Field, 15.4 TB at Progressive Field

November 9, 2016 by

Cubs victory celebration in Chicago's Grant Park. Credit: KIICHIRO SATO/AP from Cubs.com.

Cubs victory celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park. Credit: KIICHIRO SATO/AP from Cubs.com.

We now have the Verizon Wireless stats for cellular usage by fans at Chicago’s Wrigley Field during the recent World Series, and according to Verizon fans on its cellular network in the stadium used a total of 5.3 terabytes of data for the three games at the Friendly Confines. Verizon also said that for the four games at the Cleveland Indians’ Progressive Field, Verizon saw a combined 15.4 TB of wireless data on its cellular network.

Combined with AT&T’s previously announced total of 3 TB on its network over the three games gives us a total of 8.3 TB of DAS usage for the top two wireless carriers for the three Chicago Cubs home games during the Fall Classic. For the Cleveland games, the 15.4 TB on Verizon and 2 TB on AT&T comes to 14.4 TB combined.

Outside the games, Verizon added that Chicagoans used another 6.5 TB of data along the World Series celebration parade route last Friday. According to a published report, AT&T’s network in Chicago saw 10.5 TB of traffic during the parade; we haven’t been able to confirm that number with AT&T directly but with 5 million fans estimated taking place in the celebration, 17 TB of combined data usage sounds about right.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, DAS, Major League Baseball, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cubs see 3 TB of cellular data on AT&T network during World Series games at Wrigley

November 3, 2016 by

Screen Shot 2016-11-03 at 12.08.20 PMAs expected, the just-concluded 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians saw big totals for in-stadium wireless data use, with AT&T customers using almost 5 terabytes of total data, with 3 TB recorded during the three games at Chicago’s Wrigley Field and another 2 TB in the four games at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.

According to statistics of traffic on AT&T’s DAS (distributed antenna system) cellular networks in and around the stadiums, the biggest single-game total was a mark of 1+ TB at Wrigley Field for Game 3. While there was less overall traffic on the AT&T DAS at Progressive Field, some of the fan data in Cleveland most likely was carried by the stadium’s Wi-Fi network; Wrigley’s new Wi-Fi network is still under construction and was not available to fans for this season.

Thanks to AT&T, here is a game-by-game breakdown of the DAS traffic totals. Remember, this is for AT&T customers only on AT&T networks. Any other carriers out there who want to add their totals to this mix, you know where to find us!

Screen Shot 2016-11-03 at 12.17.15 PM

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, DAS, Major League Baseball, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The MSR Interview: San Francisco Giants CIO Bill Schlough

November 1, 2016 by

AT&T Park CIO Bill Schlough shows off his World Series bling.

AT&T Park CIO Bill Schlough shows off his World Series bling.

Who better to talk about stadium Wi-Fi than the guy who was there when it all started? Our guest for our first MSR Interview (part of our Stadium Tech Report Podcast series) is San Francisco Giants senior vice president and chief information officer Bill Schlough, who goes old-school talking about stadium Wi-Fi back in 2004… and brings it to the current day with stats from the most recent season at AT&T Park. Plus, his thoughts on game-day apps and why great connectivity is the real winner. Listen in now!

Hear Bill talk about:

— New Wi-Fi records set… during the Warriors’ playoff run

— Why going under-seat with Wi-Fi was a necessary thing to do

— How the Giants are experimenting with virtual reality

— Why he thinks great connectivity matters most (even more than stadium-app features)

Some story links that offer some history about AT&T Park’s networks from MSR:

S.F. Giants add more Wi-Fi, ‘virtual reality experience’ to AT&T Park for 2016 season

SF Giants fans used 78.2 TB of Wi-Fi data at AT&T Park during 2015 season

Stadium Tech Report: World Series set new wireless records at AT&T Park

Stadium Tech Report: San Francisco’s AT&T Park lives up to its wireless reputation

Giants: NLCS stadium Wi-Fi usage at AT&T Park quadrupled since 2012

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST:

Here is the link to the podcast on iTunes!

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apps, AT&T, Baseball, Cisco, DAS, Golden State Warriors, Major League Baseball, NBA, San Francisco Giants, Sprint, T-Mobile, Twitter, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

World Series fans will have Wi-Fi + DAS at Cleveland’s Progressive Field; cellular only at Wrigley

October 25, 2016 by

Screen Shot 2016-10-25 at 11.00.32 AMIf you are lucky, loaded or devoted enough to have tickets to any of this year’s World Series games, you will have more connectivity choices at Cleveland’s Progressive Field than at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Thanks to a Verizon-built Wi-Fi and a separate DAS network that both came online in 2014, the home of the AL champion Indians should be ready for the bucket-list traffic pressures that come with hosting World Series games.

When the series moves to Chicago later this week, the Wrigley cell network will need to carry the full load, as renovations that are bringing new Wi-Fi and DAS systems to the Friendly Confines are not yet in place (and may not be finished until 2018, according to the Cubs).

However, the cellular networks at Wrigley Field seem to be working just fine — according to AT&T, during the three league championship series games in Chicago, fans who are AT&T customers used 2.6 terabytes of data on the AT&T networks at the ballpark. For the three games at Dodger Stadium, AT&T said it saw a total of 2.0 TB used on its networks. Fans at Progressive Field, meanwhile, used a total of 340 GB during games 1 and 2 of the ALCS on AT&T networks. Expect that number to grow this week.

For fans attending the games in Cleveland (Game 1 is Oct. 25 and Game 2 is Oct. 26; games 6 and 7, if necessary, will also be in Cleveland) there should be plenty of local cellular capacity thanks to the beefing-up brought by carriers ahead of this summer’s Republican convention; we are also guessing that all the big wireless providers are doing their usual big-event preparations, which usually means portable cellular equipment for placement around the stadiums and in other fan areas. Anyone attending the games, send us a speedtest… so we can keep score on the networks!

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, DAS, Major League Baseball, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Belmont, Saratoga race tracks to get VenueNext app in 2017

August 22, 2016 by

Screenshot of what the Saratoga app might look like. Credit: VenueNext

Screenshot of what the Saratoga app might look like. Credit: VenueNext

Operators of the famed Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course horse-racing tracks have signed a deal with VenueNext to bring that company’s mobile app platform to both venues in 2017, with features including online betting integrated into the mobile app.

In an announcement Monday, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) said it will use VenueNext’s platform and mobile app to provide a set of features to race-day fans including the ability to store digital tickets, to purchase food, beverage and merchandise and have those items delivered to seats, to have wayfinding maps to help fans find their way around the facilities, and to view live and archived content.

The VenueNext apps will also integrate the functionality of the NYRA Bets system into the app, so that fans can place wagers directly from their mobile devices, according to the companies. The VenueNext app will be available first at Belmont Park in the spring of 2017, followed by a summer rollout at Saratoga, the companies said.

What will be interesting to watch is whether or not either track updates its connectivity ahead of the app deployment; according to the Belmont website, that track does have free fan-facing Wi-Fi, but only in the clubhouse areas with limited access in the grandstands. The Saratoga list of amenities for fans does not include any Wi-Fi information.

“VenueNext has a proven track record for delivering innovative fan experiences to sporting venues across the country and we’re proud to partner with them,” said NYRA President & CEO Chris Kay, in a prepared statement. “This partnership is yet another step in our efforts to continuously improve the guest experience through the use of technology. By leveraging VenueNext at Belmont and Saratoga Race Tracks, integrating our new NYRA Bets wagering platform and our new HD Video mobile app, NYRA will create a new standard for the horseracing industry and provide the New York fan base that is so passionate about Belmont and Saratoga the very best experiences possible.”

VenueNext, the stadium app development company created to build the stadium app platform for the San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium, now has seven announced customers for its various stadium-app and stadium-app management systems, including the Orlando Magic, the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys, the Minnesota Vikings, and Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. VenueNext also provided the stadium app for the recent Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apps, DAS, Levi's Stadium, New York Yankees, Sports Betting, Super Bowl, VenueNext, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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