🏈 UA board considers plan for improved cell service in Bryant-Denny Stadium

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Trustees at the University of Alabama are considering a plan to improve cell phone service inside Bryant-Denny Stadium during football games.

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- Trustees at the University of Alabama are considering a plan to improve cell phone service inside Bryant-Denny Stadium during football games.

School officials have reached an agreement with Verizon Wireless and AT&T to install 715 cellular antennas inside the stadium. The Tuscaloosa News reports that trustees still have to review the plan, which will go to a board committee on Thursday.

The newspaper reports the two companies will pay all the installation costs for the new system, along with licensing fees totaling $72,000 annually.

Fans often have problems with cell service inside the stadium during football games.

 

[SpecThis]

I have an iPhone and I approve of this message

 

[ElephantStomp]

I flew down to T-town for a game in 2008 against Miss State and my buddy down there didn't have service inside the stadium with At&T, but I had great service with Alltel from Wyoming... was the goofiest things.

 

[RollinInPcola]

They should install a distributed antenna system and then lease space to the cell providers. That way its not just AT&T and Verizon getting improved service.

 

[TerryP]

They should install a distributed antenna system and then lease space to the cell providers. That way its not just AT&T and Verizon getting improved service.

Maybe because there were more of them, but the only complaints I recall were from people who have AT&T.

 

[RollinInPcola]

I do know when I attended the Ga Southern game, cell service was spotty inside the stadium. But as I've learned as IT here in the arena I work in, get 19,000 (or 100k+) people in a small area (relatively speaking) and towers get overloaded. Its like when a disaster hits and everyone is trying to call loved ones and it says "All circuits are busy".

But regardless of what they do, it'll be an improvement.

 

[rammerjammer]

Rollin in Pcola, you said it best. ATT networks stay jammed up inside and outside of the stadium. I could go into the physics of how RF signal travels and give you this useless long diatribe about how a signal will and does work inside the stadium. It all has to do with the amount of people trying to get on the network. They can put up all he antenna's they want to. They need to be able to carry the load of the amount of people. T-town essentially doubles in size every home game.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

AT&T service sucks from the hours of 10am until 7pm in the city. Northport too on most days. It's a damn joke. Can't send texts half the time, much less access Internet from an iPohne.

 

[ElephantStomp]

AT&T here is a joke too. If I'm in Walmart I can't get calls, receive texts, send texts. AT&T come into Wyoming and bought up a bunch of Verizon towers and installed their own and the service still sucks

 

[bamagirl917]

really happy with my cellular south (well, cspire) service. especially now that they have the iphone.