Wireless carriers struggle to keep up with record Seahawks parade crowds
Feb 5, 2014, 5:17 PM | Updated: 5:58 pm
With so many of the estimated 700,000 people that jammed downtown Seattle for the Seahawks celebration Wednesday trying to post pictures, tweet and send texts from the parade or stadiums, the crush overwhelmed mobile phone carriers trying to keep up with the load.
During the peak of the parade, many people found their attempted uploads were going nowhere. And the demand was so high, the City of Seattle put out an urgent request through the media asking people to stop using their phones because the demand was keeping 911 calls from going through.
“We had 5.22 million requests to access the data network during the noon hour alone,” says Verizon Wireless spokesman Scott Charlston. “We added capacity to five different cell sites along the parade route and around the stadium district. We also brought in what we call cell on wheels for extra processing power and capacity.”
But even with all that extra help, Charlston admits at some point the network reaches capacity. No one could have anticipated the record demand.
“When you throw a number like 700,000, that’s going to create challenges for all the wireless carriers.”
While all carriers experienced some system overload at times, Charlston says the Verizon network performed well through most of the day.
“If you take the day when people started lining the parade route, the vast majority of people’s attempts to connect were successful. There were just times when there were real challenges.”
Carriers are constantly working to expand capacity, especially during major events like Seahawks games. Verizon and AT&T have both added special antennas to CenturyLink Field. They’ve also added new frequencies that let newer carriers access a different spectrum, which is less loaded than the old networks.
“There is extra capacity on what we call AWS, and because because we have added extra spectrum and a number of the most popular phones provide a faster instant link to the faster part of the LTE highway, it can significantly increase access for customers,” Charlston says.
As with all major events, the company will review the network’s performance and continue to find ways to improve it for the next record breaking event, which Charlston hopes is another parade next February.
