Free WIFI Saturday at Michigan Stadium
This in my email today:
During the final four home games, Michigan Athletics will be testing WiFi coverage in certain locations of Michigan Stadium. Based on your seat location for Michigan vs. Minnesota on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., you will be able to receive free WiFi during the game.
Michigan Athletics certainly recognizes the need to continue to enhance the in-stadium experience at Michigan Stadium, and a powerful enhancement will be the opportunity to receive WiFi. Please understand that this is simply a test and service may be sporadic depending on your seat location.
Seat locations in section 1 and 44 should expect to receive better service than those located in section 2 and 43 of Michigan Stadium. Again, please understand that this is a test in order to better understand the WiFi experience moving forward at Michigan Stadium.
For the final four home games, you will be able to access WiFi by simply connecting to the WiFi network titled MWiFi. Once selected, you will be prompted to enter your email address and agree to the terms and conditions.
During the week of October 7, we hope you will be willing to participate in a short survey in order for you to better provide your experience regarding the MWiFi service for your seat location. We hope you enjoy the game on Saturday as well as the opportunity to be one of the select fans to test WiFi at Michigan Stadium.
I sit in section 1 so this will be interesting. I have Verizon, and as we all know, is far from good while at the stadium.
October 4th, 2013 at 11:40 AM ^
WiFi for 110,000 people? Bandwidth issues will be just as bad.
Not trying to be a pessimist.. It's just not feasible to provide quality service for that many people.
October 4th, 2013 at 12:03 PM ^
As long as it's enough for more people to bitch and complain on the live blog it's fine.
October 4th, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^
Of course, but it will lower the demand for the cellphone networks and load balancing will natuarally occur. There is literally no way this could be worse than the current situation.
October 4th, 2013 at 1:02 PM ^
Wifi, for the most part, isn't a competing service with wireless phone services. This isn't going to solve phone issues unless you have T-mobile which lets you make calls and text over wifi. Also, they can setup several access points per section and make them directional to improve signal. 110,000 / 44 sections = 2500 people/section. If you consider that not everyone is going to be using wifi, that's probably 2-3 access points per section. Those access points will still be expensive, but I don't think that this is an insurmountable obstacle.
October 4th, 2013 at 1:24 PM ^
I'm not saying that providing enough access points is insurmountable. An access point can support up to 255 users per. So while that is a lot of access points, it's not insurmountable.
The issue is the connection that the access points are transmitting. If the Big House wants to make this WiFi deal truly a user-friendly experience, they are going to need fibre... lots and lot of fibre.
October 4th, 2013 at 1:18 PM ^
It's not for the entire stadium. They're planning it so that only 4 sections will be in range: 43, 44, 1, 2.
October 4th, 2013 at 5:07 PM ^
Levi's Stadium (the new 49ers stadium opening next fall) will have coverage for every seat in the stadium -- there are high-end connectivity devices available that support far more than 255 clients at full bandwidth.
They're using WiFi as the delivery method for replays, extra live camera angles, and a custom app that gives you bathroom and concession lines among other services.
Full disclosure: my company is a founding sponsor of Levi's Stadium so I have some KNOWLEDGE of this topic.
October 4th, 2013 at 11:41 AM ^
The good news is that this might help the student attendance issue
The bad news is that while they might start showing up for the games they'll probably be watching them like this...
October 4th, 2013 at 12:17 PM ^
its football on your phoooooone
October 4th, 2013 at 12:46 PM ^
Schoonerly clutch
October 4th, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^
It's for footballin'
October 4th, 2013 at 12:48 PM ^
I think this is the first time I've ever agreed with you.
October 4th, 2013 at 11:43 AM ^
...so I'm also interested to see how well it works. My 7th grade son will be especially excited about this!
October 4th, 2013 at 12:21 PM ^
and similarly my 10y/o daughter (who is a rabid Michigan fan; here in the heart of Buckeye country) will be especially happy!!
October 4th, 2013 at 11:48 AM ^
Is there going to be a test that only affects Sections 1 and 44? And which the engineers think will be so localized, that it won't reach Section 2 (to the south) and Section 43 (to the north)? And that the rest of the Stadium sections shouldn't even worry about it? That's how I read it. As a test, affecting just two sections.
I may have to bring the outboard battery for my iPhone.
October 4th, 2013 at 12:04 PM ^
Sounds like they have two transceivers installed. One blasting at Section 1 and another at Section 44. Those sections should get good service. Given how RF engineering works, you think they'd need a lot of transceivers to provide good service to 110,000 people.
Verizon Wireless was my customer in the past and they've been trying to find ways to improve signal quality and capacity in the stadium for many years. There's only so much you can do with large cells aimed at the stadium. Then again, it's a lot of money to install small cells with enough capacity for 110,000 people for 7 or 8 weekends each year. Suprised the university hasn't tried to cut a DAS or some other shared RF system deal with the carriers. Maybe they have and the carriers don't like the terms.
My service in the stadium is better this year than last year thanks to LTE. but it's far from ideal.
October 4th, 2013 at 12:26 PM ^
Seems more stadiums are giong the DAS route, not sure why they would be buiding a wifi network when DAS would benefit more people.
October 4th, 2013 at 1:48 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^
a Verizon MVNO and I almost always get good service in and around the stadium. Maybe it's your phone. Very cool that they're adding WiFi service. Is this common around the NCAA or are we breaking new ground?
October 4th, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^
At the game, why not watch the real world through your own eyeballs?
October 4th, 2013 at 12:44 PM ^
Exactly. Because there is never a break in the action for TV commericals or halftime, and even if there was, why would you want to check Twitter for injury reports or comments on that controverial call from people who saw it on TV, or check scores of other games, or any silly crap like that. Eyes on the field at all times.
October 4th, 2013 at 12:49 PM ^
because you end up doing this in the middle of the game anyway, and missing part of the game.
October 4th, 2013 at 1:55 PM ^
But it's nice for the people that do. I'm with Louis CK, though. The smart phone thing is crazy and has gone too far insofar as it rules people's lives.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:28 PM ^
There's this thing called "radio"....
October 4th, 2013 at 3:30 PM ^
Because I carry a radio in my pocket wherever I go...
October 4th, 2013 at 3:39 PM ^
You probably don't carry a football ticket in your pocket to wherever you go either.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:43 PM ^
If my phone could replace that, it would be one less thing to carry around all day. Radios are a bit bigger than tickets too.
October 4th, 2013 at 4:47 PM ^
If you know you're not going to get any signal at the games, why are you taking it anyway?
And if you can get a signal the phone could just act as your radio.
October 4th, 2013 at 5:12 PM ^
Who picks and chooses when they are taking their smartphone for the day? I put it in my pocket when I leave in the morning, and if that morning happens to be gameday it would be convenient if I could get connectivity in the stadium. Congratulations to the Luddites that like to brag about how they wouldn't dare think of peeking at their phones during pregame, commercial breaks, or halftime, but this is a nice convenience for a lot of people. I don't get the complaints.
October 4th, 2013 at 6:05 PM ^
I'm guessing a decent amount of people, such as myself, need to use their phone after the game, to communicate with other folks they know at the game on where to meet up, what the scoop is, etc.
For example, my grandparents go to every game and I like to meet up with them with afterward to say hi and talk shop. So even though I know that service is spotty for Verizon, I need to have my phone on me during the game so I can contact them afterward. And hey, if I can get a few texts out or magically get some working 4G for a minute to check other scores, bonus.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:56 PM ^
s/he probably just carries it to the football game. Duh.
October 4th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^
I find this interesting. With Fanvision and those no-delay earbuds being dead now, I've always thought there should be a way to do a 2nd screen expierence (replay's, other game scores, trivia, no delay radio feed, etc.) while at a sporting event right on your smartphone through an app. Maybe this is something we will see from Michigan soon (most likely at a premium).
October 4th, 2013 at 1:14 PM ^
Maybe the Wifi test is a precursor to replacing what Fanvision provided sans the special device. My son and I both really enjoyed having all the game stats in our hands...not to mention replays.
I suppose if they do provide a similar experience, it will be the Company x in game experience brought to me by Company Y, Sponsored by Company Z.
PSL revenue at work?
October 4th, 2013 at 1:42 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 3:30 PM ^
Asking "was he in...was he out?" or other various replays. It was bulky, but it was cool. Though you could tell they were dying out because the selection of other games got worse and worse.
October 4th, 2013 at 11:57 AM ^
We are one step closer to Brian's dream of posting petty front-page missives against Dave Brandon mid-game! What a time to be alive!
October 4th, 2013 at 12:00 PM ^
I'd be happy just to have down, distance and ball placement working on the scoreboards.
October 4th, 2013 at 12:06 PM ^
meh, i will still use the press wifi...
October 4th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 12:58 PM ^
+1
Go Blue!
October 4th, 2013 at 12:30 PM ^
Guess I'm the only one to realize what this really is;
A way to "sneak" ad's into the Michigan stadium experience.
/Duck and cover
/obvious s was obvious
October 4th, 2013 at 12:42 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 1:06 PM ^
You know, every year in July and August, we get a glut of requests from the phone companies to either restore power to or add capacity at various antenna banks around the stadium. The funny thing is that it never, ever seems to make much of a difference - I still cannot get a call out of the place for the life of me.
October 4th, 2013 at 1:34 PM ^
I have AT&T, and I've actually had better luck this year, for some reason. I can actually make an occasional call and send a text in less than an hour!
October 4th, 2013 at 3:40 PM ^
The problem is with the volume of the scoreboard pregame you can't actually hear anyone so it doesn't matter.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^
I'm really convinced there could be some kind of signal jamming in place around the stadium (perhaps a security measure for emergency/safety personnel?), because it seems like at a precise moment before every game, my phone signal doesn't just slow, it disappears. For instance, Notre Dame this year, exactly at 2PM, my phone stopped getting any kind of signal. Had people trying to call me from campus, and nothing was going through. Couldn't get a text in or out. Magically as soon as the game was over, it came right back.
I know, I know, it's tinfoil hat-type stuff. But it was noticeable and came exactly at 2PM on the dot, and came right back at the final whistle.
October 4th, 2013 at 4:23 PM ^