Upgraded cell coverage installed, to be tested; athletic department open to hosting more events at Big House
Not really important for me but others on here I'm sure.
Awhile ago a poster (sorry, forgot who it was) said Verizon and AT&T were installing cells in Michigan Stadium for better coverage.
Looks like it's true.
Upgraded cellular coverage to be tested during @IntChampionsCup soccer match at Michigan Stadium. » http://t.co/O85TfGL3wJ
— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) August 1, 2014
ALSO: The athletic department is open to hosting more non-football (and lacrosse) events at The Big House
“We don’t want to just casually pick up any event, but we absolutely want to be able to host major sporting events,” he said. “We want to be able to provide the fans of Michigan … with opportunities to see these types of events.
Like (Athletic Director Dave Brandon) has always talked about, entertaining fans, keeping them engaged is something you need to do in today’s day and age,” he said. “You want to provide them with some entertainment that makes it unique (and) that you can’t get on a television."
WOW!-Fi !!!
Complete faith in DB and Michigan football restored.
and the like. They're putting in Wi-Fi, too, anywhere there is can be a big event.
Except NASCAR tracks - SPRINT won't allow any other carriers Wi-Fi in the area since they have exclusive rights to the airwaves. If you want to run thier NASCAR app, you have to use their device. (Pretty funny to see AT&T logo's on the cars and Verizon ads on TV in the "only Sprint" event!)
Big Data is the next big money train. Using Wi-Fi -- with an opt-in selection -- your device MAC address is tracked. Business pay big money to know where you go and what you buy so they can push ads to you.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:04 AM ^
That's strange . . . they don't pay any big money to me.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:05 AM ^
Tractor pulls!!!
After a few rounds, we'll find that steam shovel that got buried in 1927.
I'm sure there's some method, but how do you test the equivalent of tens of thousands of cell phones uploading to Instagram and Facebook, using data to watch/listen to other games and even email all at once? Just cant think that as many will be using cells during the soccer game as at a UM game
The AT&T (and other cable / phone company) engineers that I've talked to in my travels sort of do something analagous to what we do when sizing transformers and cables for things like apartment buildings, condos and residential / commercial subdivisions. We will assume an average kVa per unit based on a few parameters (like average size of dwelling, for example) and run with it. From my understanding, there are assumptions made about cell / data usage made across 110,000 people approximately for 3.5 hours and the installations are sized appropriately.
The only "event" that I care about is the AD unlocking the stadium so you could go run the stairs or just go inside with out forking over the kid's college fund like you could in the past. Even if it's only open for an hour or two a day. Am I the only person that still shakes my fist at the air when they think about this?
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:08 AM ^
No, the terrorists gave a convenient excuse to charge for something that used to be free.
Those were good times when they used to keep one gate open year round.
I remember a few times during the summer, going in there on the field and standing in the end zone spots where so many game winning plays happened. It was such a weird yet epic feeling to have the stadium all to yourself.
While I miss those days, I can understand why they started locking everything up because it's too easy to go in there and vandalize something. Someone cut out half of the block M at mid field during one of the RichRod years.
but it would awesome to start it up again under better control. Get a few event staff personnel and open it from say 8-2 on Saturdays in the summer or something.
August 1st, 2014 at 10:14 PM ^
Yeah- I sort of figured with the army of people working in the AD, you could easily have a few people keep an eye on things for a few hours per week. I guess it's not worth the hastle to the department, but it's one of those smallish things that's made the program in general less special over the years. At least to me.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:12 AM ^
I miss those days too. I used to make a point of going inside the local college football stadium in every college town that was near anywhere I visited in my travels.
You used to be able to go in all of them. They made a point of keeping them open and letting you go on the field.
the thought of an army of lawyers following the first person to tumble down the steps during an unsupervised visit to the stadium is the primary driver keeping those gates locked.
Land of the free!!!
Do you guys remember when somebody broke in and cut a hunk out of the Block M on the field? I'm thinking that played a role here too. It cost them tens of thousands of dollars to repair.
August 1st, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^
and eating a box of donuts.
The last one was "The 12th Man".
OK, I made that up.
Cosign. I used to run the stairs inside during the summer, but now I'm forced to run the steps outside the east entrance. Running 30 steps three times is not nearly the same workout as running 90 steps once is.
To quote Derrick Coleman: "Whoopdy damn do"
I'm sure David Brandon is checking online ticket sales and looking at his watch, waiting for the rush of student buyers right this moment.
...you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave...
I will say, it will hopefully be nice to be able to get texts durring the game and, at minimum, be able to check scores of other games; if not watch them. That being said, win the game.
It's about bloody time.
Well there is nothing casual about the Rubenstein Bar Mitzvah
Now that that's taken care of, maybe Brandon could could buy a few HD cameras for Countdown to Kickoff and MGoBlueTV in general.
Cosigned.
As someone who has an $80-now-$100 yearly subscription, I really get irritated with the quality of the live video sometimes for games.
The only browser that runs MGoBlueTV smoothly for me is IE, incredibly.
They need to increase their live video for all "non-revenue" sports. I'll pay more if it means more games. I have the subscription for a reason.
Is this the longest thread title you have ever created?
I think John U. Bacon said it would only cost $6 million to put up the towers.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
I'm curious, where is the DAS/small-cell deployment actually inside the stadium then? 100K in a bowl is a hell of an RF profile to serve
This is a good thing. For those of us who like to stay up-to-date on other scores going on around the nation while at the game, now it will be much easier to do so. Just imagine the cheers that will go up throughout the stadium when Navy beats Ohio in week 1. Also, people who want to post on social media during the game and so on will be able to do so...only the "if DB->then evil" crowd will be able to complain about this.
but what about the hard core traditionalists? Wouldn't 100,000 people talking and texting on their phones spoil their traditional game day experience?
that is assuming one could afford to attend a game without robbing a bank.
August 2nd, 2014 at 12:33 AM ^
the mega concert era of the 80's but I always thought it was strange Michigan Stadium never hosted an outdoor concert such as the Rolling Stones.
That Steel Wheels tour would have fit nicely in that place.
Does have a ring to it.
Having no permanent lights until fairly recently was probably a hinderance.
I would guess that the increase in stadium use for other large events does make it more cost effective to install additional cell towers. I can see companies balking at adding infrastructure that would only get used a half dozen times per year.
It's too bad most people here are blowing this off as another one of DB's desperate attempts to attract fans because this is actually a huge deal. Coordinating with friends on game days by text and cell phone has always been a crap shoot in the stadium, ruining a few games for me personally as I've had to spend game time trying to go out of the seats and track down people. I've heard a few other cases of people with actual emergencies not being able to use their phones because of network congestion. Considering how ubiquitous cell phones are, this is long overdue.
How civilization ever evolved before 24 hour instant access to every other person in the world.