Sprint: Customers Sent Nearly 5 Terabytes Of Data During Super Bowl

At this year’s Super Bowl, Sprint is claiming that its customers transmitted a vast amount of data across the carrier’s LTE Plus network, consuming almost 5 terabytes of data inside and in areas directly surrounding the NRG Stadium in the city of Houston in Texas last February 5th. Compared to last year’s Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in California, the overall data tonnage has also risen over three fold, and around 8 times as much compared to the 2015 event held at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. According to Sprint’s press release, its customers also managed to clock download speeds of 124 mbps just outside the Verizon suite during the fourth quarter, 85 mbps directly from the stands during overtime, and 99 mbps from the stands during the trophy awarding ceremony. 

The major US wireless carrier was quick to note how all of this was possible through its roll out of 2.5 GigaHertz small cells inside the NRG Stadium. Also playing a significant role was the strategic deployment of two and three channel carrier aggregation technology rolled out by way of Cells on Wheels (COWs) and other cellular sites, especially in terms of further expanding network capacity not only inside the stadium but also around the sports arenas as well. 

For those not familiar with carrier aggregation, it is a wireless tech that bunches together several bands of spectrum, thereby setting up a wider lange that allows for more volume of network traffic and at higher connection speeds on compatible handsets. Which devices exactly are we talking about? These include Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, LG’s G5 and V20, and HTC’s Bolt. Carrier aggregation tech is automatically activated on these handsets through software updates.

The success of Sprint’s LTE Plus network relies heavily on carrier aggregation technology. Through this tech, the wireless carrier’s 2.5 GigaHertz spectrum is granted with enhanced connection speed and network capacity. Sprint had initially introduced two channel aggregation more than a year ago with the debut of the LTE Plus network back in November 2015. Today, LTE Plus now works in over 250 markets across the United States. 

After having done extensive testing of three channel aggregation in August of last year, Sprint started deploying this tech more expansively, and the service is now made available in over a hundred markets in various cities and metropolitan areas in America, including of course, Houston in Texas.