Network Prep Work Paid Off During Austin Conference’s Opening Weekend
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Verizon’s network teams in Central Texas began preparing last year to provide a reliable wireless experience for the huge tech-savvy crowds that attend Austin’s signature digital media and music conference.
Engineers boosted the amount of XLTE technology in each of the cell sites serving downtown Austin and the convention center area, effectively tripling the network capacity available for attendees to call, text and connect. The team even rolled in a COLT – that’s a portable cell site on a light truck – to add more “kick” to the Verizon network experience. They worked through every opportunity to fine-tune technology in each individual cell site, to utilize every possible ounce of performance.
All that prep work paid off during the conference’s opening weekend.
Tens of thousands of attendees blazed through nearly 50 million connections in three days, nearly 40 percent more than during last year’s opening weekend. More than 8 terabytes of data were sent/received, almost double the amount of data used during the same 72-hour timeframe in 2014. That’s enough data to completely fill more than 500 16GB smartphones.
“Our network teams continue to work hard here in Austin to power a wireless experience that Verizon customers expect and deserve,” said Lee Maschmann. “We know that these moments matter to a lot of people – whether they are here for fun, or here for business – and they depend on us. We take that very seriously.”
Hundreds of thousands of residents and guests attended the conference, which ran through March 22.