Cell service inside Michigan Stadium
I have Verizon service and my son has Sprint. Neither work for damn inside the stadium. Does anyone have AT&T that can tell me how well their data service works?
I'm willing to pick up a prepaid for during the season if I could get a decent connection.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^
Do you have proof of this?
Cause I'm 99% sure such signal jamming is a FCC violation, *especially* if it's on a per-carrier basis, AND I don't entirely think it's *possible* to begin with, as Sprint shares bands (LTE/CDMA/GSM/whatever) with other cell providers).
January 11th, 2016 at 11:29 AM ^
I can just tell you the signal for other carriers is almost non-existent while Sprint works great, or at least much better. Most people I speak with chalk it up to the whole sponsorship thing.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:32 AM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
They bring in a bunch of extra juice, mostly for the people working there (media, etc.) that need good service. So maybe jamming isn't a part of it, although if I've learned anything about NASCAR, it's that shady isn't off the table.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:33 AM ^
There's a huge difference between "Sprint as a sponsor having mobile tower units out en masse, and therefore actively supporting more than the other networks"
and
"Sprint being the only thing allowed through some scary mystical signal blocker".
One is an example of capitalism at work in a very legitimate and transparent way.
The other...not so much.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^
per FCC regulations. In fact, I know for certain that it's illegal for private individuals and entities to jam cell phone signals.
Some movie theater chain wanted to do it and the FCC told them no.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:22 AM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
Hmmm... myseriously this is the same time the planes with banners start to appear. I'm gonna go with chemtrails.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^
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January 11th, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 11:23 AM ^
I have AT&T. For me, at least, my service was fine the first couple games, but by the end of the year it was not worth having my phone on (or out of airplane mode).
January 11th, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 11:31 AM ^
Most of the major carriers (my own cell provider - Verizon - included) spent a lot of money feeding extra antennas around the stadium and there are still significant issues. I remember getting and designing a lot of orders for AT&T and Verizon in and around Davis and Keech - including some rooftop installations on apartment buildings - and I still can jump from five bars to "good luck with that call" territory every few seconds.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 11:47 AM ^
liar.
January 11th, 2016 at 12:19 PM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 12:26 PM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
They added a DAS about a year and half-ago and it has improved my service (Verizon), but it's still not great. I can get periodic texts and data (mostly checking twitter for injury news).
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/08/u-m_announces_improve…
January 11th, 2016 at 3:10 PM ^
The DAS that Verizon put in Michigan Stadium has helped my gameday service, but as implemented, it is not the be-all, end-all solution for a stadium jammed with over 100K people. When you put the population of a city in a densely packed space, it takes a lot of network resources (RF and IP network) to provide service. It's a tough cost/benefit business case for a carrier to build all that capacity for 6 to 8 uses per year. Verizon Wireless used to be my customer and we discussed stadium solutions every year.
Michigan is going to need to pursue solutions similar to what has been done for airports, subways (Chicago just implemented a shared DAS), and similar venues that is used all carriers, so it reduces their cost burden. Given the shape and infrastructure of the bowl, as noted, there are challenges where and how antennas can be placed to provide coverage and capacity. I don't know if current small cell solutions are getting to the price-point that they can be applied by a carrier instead of a shared DAS solution. DAS tends to be relatively easier to deploy since its mainly coax cable that gets strung through the building.
Also, given the nature of radio waves, service is going to be inconsistent unless the carrier comes into the stadium and optimizes antenna coverage. That means balancing the in-stadium coverage with outside of the stadium coverage, too. Some people will be sitting in areas with destructive interference, others in areas of constructive interference and some people in Goldilocks zones. It's luck of the draw until an actual in-stadium solution is implemented by the carrier. I think Verizon has fixed the coverage issue with their DAS, but still doesn't have the capacity issues solved.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:39 AM ^
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January 11th, 2016 at 11:53 AM ^
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January 11th, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^
I attend all of the home games and the only time that my phone has worked properly during the game was at the Maryland game last year.
I find it odd that it worked for that game; seeing that there were over 100,000 people at the stadium just like every other game. /s
January 11th, 2016 at 11:43 AM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^
Have AT&T and even this past season service was hit and miss. I had a difficult time checking scores of other games.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:52 AM ^
Levis Stadium which is being held up as the latest in technology has over 3,000 wi-fi access points. Just the sheer volume of cellular data and wi-fi connections overwhelms whatever they have done. They need a new DAS for the cellular and a lot more access points. It is really simple numbers. For what it is worth I'm responsible for communications at some really large venues.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:59 AM ^
Was at Nebraska 2013 and could not receive anything inside the stadium during the game. Started receiving text messages when I was walking across Pioneer HS.
Minnesota 2014 was when the upgrade went in. Used texting, Google chat, and theScore on my phone seamlessly. I was sitting in the northwest corner (student section) about 20 rows up.
BYU 2015 results were the same as Minnesota 2014, and this time I was sitting in the northeast corner about 70 rows up.
I have AT&T also, btw.
January 11th, 2016 at 12:04 PM ^
Verizon sucked this year and had forever. Frankly, I don't give a damn. The only time I even reach for my phone during a game is during halftime. It never works and many times I leave my phone at home. My phone is not attached to me at all times. To hell with it.
January 11th, 2016 at 12:08 PM ^
I thought postpaid lines are prioritized on congested towers. And prepaid services, like Cricket (AT&T), cap data speeds at a low 8 Mbps, right?
January 11th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 12:37 PM ^
You and the two other people that could possibly want that to happen.
January 11th, 2016 at 12:26 PM ^
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January 11th, 2016 at 12:45 PM ^
As someone mentioned earlier, the main negative in the Big House is the massive amount of concrete in addtion to the structure of the bowl.
Due to the the design of the stadium, there are very few places to place an radio head within the bowl area without potentional RF exposure. Also, when placing the radio heads within the corridors, the signal has to fight throught the concrete to get to the bowl.
I can believe that T-Mobile has decent service within a Michigan game due to their marketshare of customers in attendace is very low. Most U-M ticket holders do not meet the T-Mobile customer demographic. Not much competition to fight over bandwidth and resouces with.
There is a new technology on the horizon that appears to be a great solution for densely populated areas such as stadiums.
January 11th, 2016 at 1:33 PM ^
Having spent the past 23 years working for 2 of the 4 major carriers in operations I can tell you this thread resembles every focus group and consumer insights report that I've seen.
Perception is reality. The factors causing that perception vary and are totally controllable by each carrier given their level of investment.
I've been part of efforts to improve specific in-stadium coverage for my current employer. The technology and solutions are available. It's a matter of project priority and funding (like any business).
January 11th, 2016 at 3:08 PM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 3:22 PM ^
I work in finance with Sprint in their headquarters. I saw your post and I'm sorry that you are frustrated with the signal inside the stadium. I don't work with network group but it appears that the signal in the area is excellent but just not penetrating the stadium. Much of what the previous responses say are true about the signal penetration. However, I have submitted a ticket to see if there is any way we can escalate the issue to improve the signal. Our network is improving substantially and it may be possible to improve the signal there now or in the near future. I hope we can help you out.
January 11th, 2016 at 5:39 PM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 3:32 PM ^
One for work... and one for play... One is Sprint, the other is Verizon. Both work for crap. At least this year on the Sprint one I was able to send and receive text messages during the game. And this was to a relative who sits a section over....
January 11th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^
"And this was to a relative who sits a section over...."
This is the struggle being on the carrier side. Cell phones are not walkie talkies.
January 11th, 2016 at 4:57 PM ^
feature doesn't work either.
January 11th, 2016 at 5:03 PM ^
I have T-Mobile and I have fantastic coverage inside the stadium. I can browse any of the social media apps as well call and text.
January 11th, 2016 at 6:34 PM ^
January 11th, 2016 at 10:26 PM ^
We had Sprint and it never worked properly until we were close to Allmendinger Park or the IM building on game day. Switched to Tmo and what a huge difference! Inside the stadium about 30 rows up we get 5-10Mb/sec downloads , dropping to 2-4 Mb/sec at halftime. Text and calls both work flawlessly for those last minute food run changes. At basketball games at Crisler I measured blistering 50-70Mb/sec downloads. At Yost we get about 30Mb/sec downloads, at the baseball and softball fields about 50Mb/sec downloads.
January 11th, 2016 at 10:26 PM ^
We had Sprint and it never worked properly until we were close to Allmendinger Park or the IM building on game day. Switched to Tmo and what a huge difference! Inside the stadium about 30 rows up we get 5-10Mb/sec downloads , dropping to 2-4 Mb/sec at halftime. Text and calls both work flawlessly for those last minute food run changes. At basketball games at Crisler I measured blistering 50-70Mb/sec downloads. At Yost we get about 30Mb/sec downloads, at the baseball and softball fields about 50Mb/sec downloads.
January 12th, 2016 at 7:36 AM ^
I had T-mobile for about 10 years and never had an issue in the stadium (north endzone). I just switched to Verizon and now am worried about next year.