The Super Bowl is easily the biggest sporting event in the United States annually. With a game as massive as this, people are texting and calling friends and family, searching up stats, and posting pictures and videos to social media. This leads to a big surge in network usage before, during, and after the game.
However, no place will feel the effects more than the city hosting the Super Bowl — especially the stadium itself. That's why mobile carriers must ensure their networks are primed and ready for the load on Super Bowl day. T-Mobile, for one, has made a lot of improvements in preparation.
Preparing For The Network Usage Surge At This Year's Super Bowl
This year, the Super Bowl is taking place at Allegiant Stadium near Las Vegas, Nevada, so the population in the famous city is bound to spike for a few days surrounding the game. T-Mobile has placed multiple permanent 5G upgrades at the stadium and other locations in Las Vegas. That means network coverage will get better for the Super Bowl and after that.
Some of the permanent upgrades put in place include:
- 62 Indoor Distributed Antenna Systems (iDAS) were added within the stadium
- 7 Outdoor Distributed Antenna Systems (oDAS) were added to specific regions outside the stadium
- mmWave upgrades were made in the Allegiant Stadium area and Harry Reid International Airport
- Additional upgrades were made at two of the most popular luxury hotels in Vegas: Cosmopolitan and Fontainebleau
The mobile service provider has also implemented several temporary upgrades to handle areas where NFL enthusiasts are likely to be congregating as supporters, such as the Fountains of Bellagio, Brooklyn Bowl, and Mandalay Bay Parking Garage.
Data Usage At The Super Bowls Is Getting Progressively Higher
Every single year, the Super Bowl city and stadium set new highs for network usage for most service providers. Stats aren't readily available for all of them, which tend to be eye-opening.
For instance, according to the Wireless Infrastructure Association, for 2023's Super Bowl, Verizon users in the stadium and its general vicinity used nearly 50 TB of data, up by 57% compared to the data usage for the 2022 Super Bowl. AT&T reported a similar spike over the previous year, with 21 TB used on their network. Compared to Verizon, that might seem small, but it was a 61% increase over what was reported for AT&T in 2022.
Regardless of the network you use, there will always be a lot of wireless data sent to and fro on Super Bowl day, and major networks never hesitate to put the appropriate infrastructure in place to handle it.
What You Need To Know About Super Bowl 2024
The Super Bowl in 2024, or Super Bowl LVIII (that's “58”, in case you still haven't bothered to get the hang of Roman numerals), will take place on February 11th and is slated to start at 3:30 PM PST. The game will be between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs (fun fact: the same Super Bowl matchup seen in 2020).
The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl last year and are back to defend their title. Will they bring the win home again, or will there be an upset? Let us know what you think, and if you'll be using T-Mobile in Las Vegas on the 11th, let social media know too!
