Detroit News: Wisconsin adding $6.2-million Wi-Fi network to Camp Randall Stadium

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per the Detroit News:

The University of Wisconsin is installing a new high-density Wi-Fi network for football fans at Camp Randall Stadium.

The project, which will cost the university $6.2 million, will be completed in time for the 2014 football season. Seating capacity at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison is 80,321.

The service, which will include more than 750 access points throughout the stadium and the surrounding area, will be provided by AT&T.

“We are thrilled with our collaboration with AT&T in enhancing the game-day fan experience at Camp Randall Stadium,” said Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez. “Along with AT&T, we are creating a high standard for connectivity in our stadium and providing a wide variety of additional content to our fans."

Most college football stadiums do not have full-venue wireless access because the cost to install and maintain the system is too high.

“In-stadium connectivity is becoming an essential component of the game-day experience at stadiums across the country,” said Scott T. VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin. “Whether fans are using mobile apps, texting, tweeting, checking email or surfing the Internet, they are looking for enhanced connectivity. We are excited to work with the University of Wisconsin to enhance the experience at Camp Randall for all Badger fans, students and alumni.”

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/...-2-million-Wi-Fi-network-Camp-Randall-Stadium

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per the Detroit News:

The University of Wisconsin is installing a new high-density Wi-Fi network for football fans at Camp Randall Stadium.

The project, which will cost the university $6.2 million, will be completed in time for the 2014 football season. Seating capacity at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison is 80,321.

The service, which will include more than 750 access points throughout the stadium and the surrounding area, will be provided by AT&T.

“We are thrilled with our collaboration with AT&T in enhancing the game-day fan experience at Camp Randall Stadium,” said Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez. “Along with AT&T, we are creating a high standard for connectivity in our stadium and providing a wide variety of additional content to our fans."

Most college football stadiums do not have full-venue wireless access because the cost to install and maintain the system is too high.

“In-stadium connectivity is becoming an essential component of the game-day experience at stadiums across the country,” said Scott T. VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin. “Whether fans are using mobile apps, texting, tweeting, checking email or surfing the Internet, they are looking for enhanced connectivity. We are excited to work with the University of Wisconsin to enhance the experience at Camp Randall for all Badger fans, students and alumni.”

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/...-2-million-Wi-Fi-network-Camp-Randall-Stadium

Go Gophers!!
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Teague was on KFAN earlier this feel. He said Wi-Fi upgrade was "on their mind", but finding the $5 million or so to do had to take a back seat to getting the facilities money. Sounded like he was getting a lot of complaints about it.

Wonder how much of that $150,000,000 he has gotten pledged?
 


They're ahead of the curve on this. Connectivity at TCF is awful, and as time marches on being able to connect to either wi-fi or a strong wireless cell network will be vital to the fan experience.
 

Iceland12 said:
Teague was on KFAN earlier this feel. He said Wi-Fi upgrade was "on their mind", but finding the $5 million or so to do had to take a back seat to getting the facilities money. Sounded like he was getting a lot of complaints about it.

Wonder how much of that $150,000,000 he has gotten pledged?
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$5 million for Wi-Fi? Doesn't he know about the Xfinity Triple Play starting at $84 a month? Besides Wi-fi, they could show over 140 channels on the scoreboard, plus get a phone line with free long distance to call recruits. C'mon Teague get with it.
 


but what about bundling with century link and directv? or is that for new customers only? ;-)
 

If they do add it to the Bank, I hope they disable it when we're on defense. Get off your phones and get loud!
 

vinko bogataj said:
$5 million for Wi-Fi? Doesn't he know about the Xfinity Triple Play starting at $84 a month? Besides Wi-fi, they could show over 140 channels on the scoreboard, plus get a phone line with free long distance to call recruits. C'mon Teague get with it.
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Sounds great! Not even one person could access it at the same time or the Comcast signal will go to a trickle, but for $84, why would one expect to get internet that works more than 50% of the time?
 

6.2 million dollars is a big price for drunk girls to post selfies to snapchat/instagram. (I'm guessing that will be about 75% of its use).
 



LBJ said:
6.2 million dollars is a big price for drunk girls to post selfies to snapchat/instagram. (I'm guessing that will be about 75% of its use).
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you're making me re-think my opposition to this.
 

I realize there were cost considerations and that the technology would probably be outdated by now, but the decison to not install wifi at The Bank right from the get go was a bad mistake. A further mistake was not making the cost of installing such a network, at least partially, a component of the Vikings user agreement for the stadium. At the very least, some effort needs to be made along with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile to install some sort of booster for their signals on site. Whenever the number of live bodies goes above about 40,000, connectivity to cellular data networks collapses during the game. You can forget about it at halftime when the live crowd is lower. This has been an issue since literally the first game against Air Force in 2009, but the U of M has constantly ignored complaints and the obvious need to get some sort of remedy implemented. We talk a lot here about the need to get more fans to games, especially students. If you can't send text or a Tweet or a photo or surf the net, there is a group of fans, particularly the students, who will view that as impeding their enjoyment and consider just doing something else besides attending the games.
 


May not seem or be important to some, but it can't be debated that the WiFi and cell coverage in TCF Stadium is abysmal.
 



Crazy to think it costs that much for wi-fi. Seems like a lot of money!

It is annoying that there's no wi-fi but it's kind of sad if that's the reason someone wouldn't attend a game (makes me think of this video a little bit-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY ).

I do appreciate the wi-fi at Target Field though (works really well this year).
 


LBJ said:
6.2 million dollars is a big price for drunk girls to post selfies to snapchat/instagram. (I'm guessing that will be about 75% of its use).
Click to expand...
No price is too much for pictures of drunk girls.
 



Word said:
It is annoying that there's no wi-fi but it's kind of sad if that's the reason someone wouldn't attend a game
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With a poor fan base like Minnesota has, any small issue like this is a contributing factor that makes people who wouldn't normally attend a game stay home or not come back.
 


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