This year’s Super Bowl is arguably having a larger effect on the mobile world than any Super Bowl before. Apps and developers are already beginning to take the Super Bowl to heart and both Google and Uber have thrown their hats in. You will be able to stream Super Bowl 50 on just about any device from iPads to Windows laptops and even your smartphone. It seems as though the whole tech world is descending on Super Bowl 50 and as if to prove that, Verizon has announced that $70 million worth of network enhancements they’ve been making over the past two years in the San Francisco Bay Area will be used to help make Super Bowl 50 “the most connected and shared championship game in history”.
Verizon has been making a concerted effort to prepare for Super Bowl 50. According to a press release, “Hundreds of Verizon employees have worked for nearly two years to prep for Super Bowl 50, boosting network performance in more than 10 major areas from San Francisco to Santa Clara, along with the three major area airports and several player and NFL hotels.” To this end, they’ve built 16 new small cells in the area, installed 75 existing small cells, deployed a new, patented system made to bring signal to the seats of the stadium, increased peak downlink speeds, added XLTE systems to 37 existing sites and finished preparing to put up cells in 14 high-traffic areas. On top of all of that, Verizon is going to have a team of 100 technicians out in force during the big game to monitor and maintain the network in real time.
Verizon Wireless VP Brian Mercum made Verizon’s intentions clear; “We do this because we anticipate that this will be the most ‘shared’ Super Bowl. A better wireless network matters when it comes to capturing and sharing life’s greatest moments…” According to Verizon’s statistics, 4.1 terabytes of data were used during Super Bowl 49 on their network in Phoenix. Although some of this usage was, doubtlessly, unrelated to the game taking place in the University of Phoenix Stadium, that’s still an incredible spike for any network. Verizon also made long-term upgrades in Santa Clara, Downtown San Francisco, and various transportation hubs such as Oakland International Airport and San Jose International Airport.