Sunday’s game between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos is sure to be an epic matchup, and preparations are well under way to make sure each gigabit, snapchat, selfie and all-around posts go down without a fumble.
Verizon has been planning for Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium for two years. Verizon engineers will count gigabits during the big game in “a pair of bungalows” south of the Bay Area, FierceWireless reports. Network World reports that about 100 engineers will oversee Verizon’s network “through real-time feeds that indicate the number of phones connected and the total amount of data being used.”
Home games over the past two years have served as the dry runs for the game that is sure to test cellular networks more than ever before. Verizon has installed 75 small cells in the Bay Area and 15 cell towers to help with the demand, according to Recode.net. Phillip French, executive director of networks for Verizon’s western territory, recently told reporters that he anticipates five to six times of mobile traffic and data at the Super Bowl as compared to other events. Super Bowl 49’s Verizon customers used four terabytes of data. French predicts six terabytes for Super Bowl 50. Verizon has reportedly spent $70 million in upgrades which will stay in the Bay Area after the game is over. Verizon also is a major sponsor of Super Bowl 50.
AT&T also will be monitoring its network within the stadium on game day to make sure that videos, selfies and social media posts go off without a hitch. AT&T has invested $100 million in upgrades in preparation for Super Bowl 50, including six cell sites around the stadium and nine cell on wheels (COW) for the parking lot and other mobile sites.
T-Mobile and Sprint also have paid for upgrades including increased capacity at local cell sites, upgraded distributed antenna systems and various remote temporary sites. Sprint, according to Recode, has 11 COWs in the area.
And on hand to watch from Verizon’s control room? Staff from Houston—the site of Super Bowl 51.
Reader Interactions