Cell Service at Worlds

[zakattacks]

I was wondering what cell service is like at worlds (all divisions, etc.). An optional component to our scouting system requires a cell signal, and we need to renew or buy a new sim card for it. At Inland Empire, we barely had any service and we were glad it worked, but we are worried that won't be the case is St. Louis.

The question is, what is the best carrier for use at worlds? Right now we have tmobile some devices (prepaid plan, so switching isn't much of a concern) and verizon (contract) on the others.

This is 3250's first year going, so we have no idea what to expect. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!
-Zak

[theawesome1730]

I can't speak for all carriers but AT&T service does exist. It is spotty at best, but you may be able do what you need to do. No way could it handle massive amounts of data though.

[Alex Webber]

It is hard to give you an accurate estimate.

You can check out http://opensignal.com/. They compare all of the cell phone providers for a area, and rank them based on their connectivity. Enter in 901 N Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63101, and it seems that T-Mobile is the best provider, with AT&T and Verison leading up the pack.

From briefly looking, it seems with both providers you will get 4G. Congrats on making it to Championship, and Good Luck!

[MrTechCenter]

I have AT&T, and from my experience, you can get decent service (Probably about 3G speeds) in most parts of the dome, but on the convention center floor or any of America's Center for that matter, forget about it.

[kevin.li.rit]

The stadium almost surely has a indoor distributed antenna system meant to handle cell traffic when the stadium is at capacity. It won't be an issue of coverage at the stadium but noise and load from other users.

Edit: Apparently mobilelite was contracted to build their DAS System . Although they probably should have gone with the same people who did the iDAS for the last 2 superbowls (CrownCastle).

http://www.mobilesportsreport.com/20...as-deployment/

[mman1506]

I used the T-mobile network through Roam Mobility. Data was pretty slow and spotty but cell service was usually fine

[kevin.li.rit]

Originally Posted by Alex Webber

It is hard to give you an accurate estimate.

You can check out http://opensignal.com/. They compare all of the cell phone providers for a area, and rank them based on their connectivity. Enter in 901 N Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63101, and it seems that T-Mobile is the best provider, with AT&T and Verison leading up the pack.

From briefly looking, it seems with both providers you will get 4G. Congrats on making it to Championship, and Good Luck!

I've seen phone apps like this before and they usually try and sell the data that is gathered. I've always wondered if the users of these apps are using it when the cell coverage is poor because you don't really see any data for areas with what they call weak signal unless its an isolated area. I've always wondered if these data points are accurate, they could be sitting in their basement with their phone in their pocket under a metal desk or have their thumb over the antenna.

[protoserge]

I have AT&T and I can't recall any real persistent issues. There were occasional drop-offs in some areas of the arena, but I believe I usually data.

[kevin.li.rit]

Cell coverage and capacity has changed since last year.

[zakattacks]

Thanks for all your help guys! I will stick with tmobile and verizon since the service map shows they both cover that general area pretty well. Good luck at worlds!