Carriers prep for big data usage during big game

Houston has seen a great deal of improvements in wireless infrastructure in recent years, even before carriers began to focus their attention on the city in the past year in preparation for Super Bowl LI, expected to bring in over 1,000,000 people. The carriers today are touting their achievements in the past year as they stand ready for the crowds drawn by the “Big game.” AT&T alone invested more than $1.35 billion in its Houston area wireless and wireline networks between 2013 and 2015, and has invested more than $40 million in recent infrastructure improvements in the area in anticipation of the Super Bowl crowds, including upgrades and new installs of Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) at 13 locations throughout the Houston area, an upgrade to the NRG Stadium’s DAS will provide 100% more LTE capacity than the start of the 2016 pro football season. Verizon touts a 450% increase in capacity at and around the stadium, transportation hubs, hotels and popular tourist areas, and has constructed 23 new permanent macro cell sites, 220+ permanent small cells, doubled capacity through major routes in and out of downtown, and will have 24 temporary Cells on Wheels (COWs). Sprint has been improving their infrastructure in the Houston area for the past nine months preparing for the game, and has added over 100 small cells in and around NRG Stadium and other popular nearby locations. As a result, they have increased their capacity inside the stadium by over 500%. They too are deploying COWs. T-Mobile states they have permanently increased 4G LTE capacity nearly 20x in and around the stadium and more than 10x at area airports, venues and hotels in the last year, including new small cells and DAS throughout the city.

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