Wireless carriers boosting signals for DNC
Plans in place for heavy loads on cell services
By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 14, 2008 at 9:05 p.m.
Photo by Preston Gannaway © The Rocky
People are working 20 hours a day to get the Pepsi Center ready for the DNC. Members of the media attended a final walk-through earlier this month to see the progress being made.
Communications carriers say they are confident they are making the improvements necessary to handle the unprecedented explosion of wireless traffic during the Democratic National Convention later this month.
Company officials said they expect the tens of thousands of attendees and media to talk, text, e-mail, navigate, Web-surf and share videos and photos via wireless devices at a record-setting pace.
"We know this convention represents the most digitally advanced ever," said Keri Hissim, operations director for AT&T, the official wireless provider. "We absolutely intend to deliver on that expectation."
Said Melanie Braidich, Verizon Wireless regional president: "We've taken extraordinary steps, I believe. We're confident and absolutely ready to go."
Experts say it's almost impossible to gauge how prepared the carriers are without knowing specifically how their networks are engineered and how much capacity they can handle. The proof, of course, will come during peak traffic periods.
It's uncharted territory compared with conventions in the past. Americans increasingly are using cell phones, BlackBerries and iPhones for tasks that gobble up more network capacity than phone calls. The number of text messages alone quadrupled between 2005 and 2007, according to CTIA - The Wireless Association.
The major wireless carriers - AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile - all say they have boosted capacity at the major venues including the Pepsi Center, Invesco Field, the Colorado Convention Center and even some downtown hotels.
That includes adding permanent cell sites, bringing in mobile cells-on-wheels, or "COWs," installing signal boosters in buildings, and providing backup microwave facilities in case of a fiber-optic or land-line connection failure. Wireless carriers rely on land lines to haul some of their traffic.
In recent years, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint have upgraded to 3G, or third generation, networks that enable customers to get faster, almost DSL-like Internet speeds. Carriers maintained customers should experience speeds in the normal range, although they acknowledged network traffic will be a factor.
AT&T is the official provider to the convention, but the other carriers will be handling services as usual for their customers.
Qwest is the official provider of wire-line telecommunications services for the DNC.
For example, Braidich said she's been asked whether Verizon AirCards, which provide a high-speed Internet wireless connection on laptops, will work at the venues, and her answer is yes.
"Our customers are going to experience what they normally expect," she said.
smithje@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5155
How wireless carriers are boosting capacity
* AT&T: Software upgrades; "micro-cells" in certain buildings; plans to deploy several mobile cells-on-wheels (COW); backup microwave facilities; a 24-hour network-operations center; technicians and engineers at major venues.
* Verizon Wireless: Three new permanent cell sites downtown; one COW near the convention center; software upgrades; signal boosters and repeaters in area hotels, parking garages and key convention sites; 24-hour operations center; microwave and battery backup.
* Sprint: A COW at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field; signal amplifiers at more than 25 hotels in downtown Denver and the Denver International Airport;installation of additional equipment at busiest sites; local engineering team will perform daily on-site testing at various venues and sites downtown.
* T-Mobile: Expanded capacity at the Pepsi Center, convention center and Invesco Field.
Clearing the air
A Secret Service official on Thursday shot down a rumor that certain areas, such as the Pepsi Center, may not have cell-phone coverage during the Democratic National Convention because of security precautions.
Cell phones have been used by terrorists with mixed results to try to set off explosives.
"I'm not aware of any planned disruption of cell-phone-based systems" for security reasons, said U.S. Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley.
Wiley reacted to the rumor with some incredulity, noting 15,000 media members expect to be able to use their cell phones.
Sprint said telecommunications companies have helped outfit the Multi-Agency Communications Center, a 24-hour hub that Sprint called the brainchild of the Secret Service.
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August 15, 2008
10:02 a.m.
Suggest removal
Father writes:
A most fascinating article. It is simply amazing at either how complacent or ignorant the American wireless consumer is – getting raped financially by the U.S. Wireless carriers with high-priced poor quality slow service as compared to other nations.
This “turned up” level of wireless service provided for the DNC still falls below the norm of some other nations.
See how -
http://tinyurl.com/6pcb6q or
http://tinyurl.com/5szg3g or
http://tinyurl.com/5b2p65 or
http://tinyurl.com/647bag
August 15, 2008
4:04 p.m.
Suggest removal
HopiMedicineMan writes:
Dad---Really outstanding point. I lose net all over this city. Now they tell me it's not a technical limitation, but a corporate limitation. (Earlier in the month my attempt at smoke signals born of digital frustration got a bit out of hand.)