Sporting Events a Cell Service Desert

Have you ever been at a big game and missed a play while at the concessions, then tried to find out what happened using your phone just to meet with an extremely long lag time or nothing at all. As it turns out this phenomenon is common at sporting events and other large venues where hordes of people congregate.

The problem is that a vast number of people using the network in one location is overwhelming the the sole cell tower that services the area. The problem is further illustrated in SwayMarkets’ report summarized in the infographic below.

Infographic Credit: SwayMarkets.com

The article on CNN Money, states that the solution to the problem could lie in “small cells”. The idea behind a small cell is to bring in smaller antennas to an area in need of extra coverage. The tiny antennas have already been tested in events by carriers and seen tremendous success. Stuart Jeffrey, an analyst from Nomura predicts “[s]mall cells will make up 90% of total cell tower deployments by 2015”.

Read more at Money.CNN.com.

Photo Credit: arkorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net