To get ready for Superbowl XLVI in Indianapolis, AT&T rolled out a lot of equipment to try to make sure that those there for the big game would be able to call home and taunt those who couldn’t make it.
Whenever a large event happens in a given locations – say CES or the Super Bowl – cellular companies have to roll out additional equipment to handle the increased demand on their networks.  While this is well-known in tech circles, companies don’t usually spell out exactly what they have done to try to cope with the traffic, but AT&T decided to give the world a peak into their plans.
As you can see in the video above, it looks like Big Blue went all out to make sure you could make a phone call from just about anywhere around the Super Bowl XLVI stadium.  From rolling in CoWs (Cell tower on Wheels), to setting up additional services in hotels, it sure looks like AT&T has tried to think of everything.  And the bonus to the city of Indianapolis is that a good chunk of the hardware will be staying there on a permanent basis.
- Launched an AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Zone, the company’s seventh major-market hotzone, serving parts of downtown Indianapolis. The new hotzone will provide fast and reliable Wi-Fi near many popular locations along Capitol Avenue, Meridian and Pennsylvania Streets as well as East and West Georgia streets near the center of town.
- Launched an expanded Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at Lucas Oil Stadium, enabling 4GLTE coverage within the stadium and carrying more traffic than 10 cell sites.
- Added 4G LTE to its DAS for media accommodations.
- Deploying nine Cells on Wheels (COWs) to support Lucas Oil Stadium, the downtown area, practice facilities and other places where large crowds are expected to accommodate increased wireless network demands from high concentrations of smartphone users.
- Added capacity to nearly 200 cell sites throughout the Indianapolis market.
- Established an onsite command center to closely monitor our network performance — with technicians and equipment on hand. In addition, AT&T’s Global Network Operations Center (GNOC) closely monitors the network 24/7.
So if you happen to be at the big game today, and you are on AT&T, it sounds like you may have a good shot at getting a call out. Just try not to torment your friends and family with the face you’re there and they aren’t too much.
[TB]
