As the NBA Playoffs enter the last round, The Finals, the spotlight brightens for the two teams remaining. The pulse of fans’ league-wide interest for the game–regardless if their team is still playing or not–reverberates through what’s trending on Twitter. The magnitude only increases, placing a premium on accessibility and unobstructed connectivity.
Yet, it’s as a good a time as any to look back and shed light on the actual state of fan’s mobile reception inside NBA arenas, where the action is taking place.
Most of these venues have been around a while now, sans for the Brooklyn Nets’ Barclays Center. These facilities tend to not be palatable towards swiftly transmitting data signals. Yesteryear’s technological capacity is hard-pressed to manage significant crowds in small spaces. The rotund shape of the sites spurs wide-ranging differences in a fan’s device reception wherever they are inside. The concrete and steel composition negates the signals to work accordingly.
The proliferation of fans carrying and using smartphones for social media, e-mail, text, and uploading photos and videos only compounds connectivity issues further.
Regardless of how much capacity an arena’s network possesses, virtually all of the bandwidth will be tapped into. There’s just a huge disparity between the data uploaded by fans versus the DAS or Wi-Fi traffic as a whole.
The demand exceeds the supply.
Considering the fiscal and technological support needed, it’s extremely difficult for any stadium operator to be well ahead of where fans would like teams to serve them. Amazing plays in a basketball game and during timeouts and halftime periods definitely push the network to its limits. New arenas have the opportunity to create an infrastructure that’s more flexible, malleable to future improvements. Without a league-wide commitment, determining and conforming a connectivity baseline across all 29 arenas isn’t realistic. The deal structures with carriers present crucial pivot points–whether that’s a split expenditure among the team and carrier, an upfront cost by the carrier in order to have user retention, or an annual licensing fee charged to the carrier, among other options.
That said, there isn’t an overarching plan that’s prudent for all the constituents. Across the NBA venue landscape, there are different variables involved to address mobile reception needs.
By and large, all the carriers would be the first to state that its service is the fastest or most dependable. Performance discrepancies abound between arena’s contextual layout, leaving unsubstantiated information. Moreover, the accelerated implementation of LTE technology, as well as other similar advancements, poses new intel that should redefine what was previously considered standard knowledge in the field.
RootMetrics’, a Seattle-based independent mobile analytics firm, goal is to provide a complete picture of the consumer’s mobile experience, covering where they live, work, and play.
In conjunction with their broader complementary data reports that spans the performance in the 125 most populous metros, all 50 states, the 50 busiest airports, and the domestic country as whole, they produce the Venue RootScore Reports, which measures the carriers’ mobile data performance and publicly available Wi-Fi at sporting stadiums across America. Dating back to this past winter, RootMetrics’ testers ran data performance tests before, during, and after NBA games, at locations scattered throughout these venues. The tests evaluated how mobile carriers and Wi-Fi handled the average fan’s data network engagement, including download and upload performance, e-mail delivery, and data tasks that represent a typical app or web experience.
This independent testing conducted an assessment to gauge how well four NBA arenas are able to meet fan’s mobile data demands: AmericanAirlines Arena, BMO Harris Bradley Center, United Center, and Staples Center.
RootMetrics’ Chief Executive Officer, Bill Moore, informs SportTechie that they test mobile network data performance during typical event conditions. Testing is done during the entirety of each NBA game, with in-seat testing performed about 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after each game (when permitted) from different seats, at different times, and at different locations. The data collection is performed within publicly accessible, commonly used areas of each venue. While the testing is primarily done while seated, they also walked around concession areas and restrooms to mimic typical fan activity.
During the testing, they evaluated all of the aforementioned aspects of the fan data experience. It checks how reliably and swiftly each network is able to connect to an IMAP server and download a group of e-mails; also, establishing a network connection and download lite data files to stand for common web and app behaviors. For call testing, they make a call from each network’s phone and tries to hold that call open for the interval of the testing cycle, with blocked and dropped outgoing call failure rates monitored. In texting, it determines send failure rates and the speed at which each network can send and receive texts from a phone, be it within its own network and phones in their own networks. It’s a six-minute testing cycle for each of these functions.
“While speed is important, reliability is even more so; after all, speed doesn’t matter if you can’t connect and complete your tasks reliably,” says Moore.
RootMetrics’ methodology revolves around being the most comprehensive, scientific, and robust analysis available that entails from the consumer perspective–the end-user angle, notably, is what uniquely matters.
To ensure that testing mobile performance mirrors consumer-wise, they use unmodified, Android-based smartphones, the latest ones, purchased right off the shelf at a regular mobile phone store. The tests run through an automated testing program, functioning on the Android operating system. The test schedules are synchronized across all operators’ phones, with the tests and metrics coming from the same process across all carriers’ devices.
“Congestion, construction, and location of the venue can all play a role in consumer’s mobile experience while at a stadium. When it comes to mobile performance, congestion can be the biggest challenge at venues due to the extremely high demands, especially during big plays and halftime shows” Moore says.
“If a venue is located in the downtown core, networks not only have to handle stadium traffic, but are also tasked with an extra load from other locations nearby. On the other hand, a venue located on the outskirts of town may be far from neighboring towers. The materials used to construct a venue also can impact signal, and a stadium’s ability to add Wi-Fi or DAS,” continued Moore.
Considering RootMetrics examines various kinds of environments, they focus on what users do more of in each area. So at these NBA venues, they keyed on photos, videos, and social media posts more than usual, with upload and download aspects across the four major carriers and Wi-Fi sections.
That said, each of the four NBA arenas tested presented its own respective findings based on their current connectivity level.
For the AmericanAirlines Arena, they attended the game when the Miami Heat hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder this season. This 19,600 capacity facility recently upgraded to a multi-million DAS installation prior to this testing, featuring over 320 strategically-placed antennas but no Wi-Fi. There were 19,735 fans in attendance that date; and Verizon scored the best among the carriers with a 98.4 in RootMetrics’ data performance scale of 0-100. The other three carriers, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint, finished as such, respectively: 89.5, 84.2, 65.4. In terms of reliability, every carrier scored above 94, with the exception of Sprint and its 67.6. As for speed, there was greater discrepancies across the board, where AT&T and Sprint were in the 60s, T-Mobile close to 77.0, and Verizon at 96.0.
Most notably for median upload speeds–there’s variations in speed to keep in mind, with max speed not really being that impactful to do tasks in this setting–Verizon reached 12.0 Mbps (Megabits per second) that would allow a fan to e-mail a photo from this event in less than three seconds; whereas for Sprint, its 1.0 Mbps would take 25 seconds for a fan to e-mail a photo.
The BMO Harris Bradley Center–definitely one of the oldest arenas in the NBA and likely to soon be replaced for new venue–had different results when RootMetrics tested during the Milwaukee Bucks’ home game versus the Sacramento Kings. In its nearly three-decade-old existence, there hasn’t been Wi-Fi added lately to their DAS. Of the 13,406 fans within the 18,717 capacity in attendance that night, it was Verizon users that had the best level of reception. Verizon led carriers in RootMetrics’ testing with 95.9, AT&T with 83.6, Sprint with 81.1, and T-Mobile with 68.6. With regards to reliability, there were better marks across the board, with Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile finishing in this order, respectively: 100.0, 96.4, 92.9, 79.5. In speed, though, the larger disparities emerged; Verizon was slightly below a 90.0, AT&T and Sprint logged in the 60.0s, and T-Mobile barely over 50.0.
The median upload speed highlighted the speed deficiency even more; Verizon’s 5.8 Mbps would take less than five seconds to e-mail a photo while T-Mobile’s 0.4 Mbps reaches a minute to do the same task.
As for the United Center, RootMetrics ran testing when the Chicago Bulls hosted the Orlando Magic. The Bulls have upgraded their in-venue mobile reception recently thanks to AT&T, where DAS and Wi-Fi coexist, including 400 antennas of the latter. In a game that had 21,302 fans on hand within the 20,917 seating capacity, Verizon continued its high marks based on RootMetrics’ study. Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile scored in this order, respectively, as follows: 95.5, 76.6, 67.2, 61.0. In terms of reliability, Verizon netted a perfect 100.0; AT&T’s 67.7 proved some issues connecting to the network across the tested facets, but managed to complete data tasks; and T-Mobile’s 66.6 stood out for its strong connection rates while experiencing network problems to finish data tasks. The data speed for these carriers were Verizon’s 88.7, AT&T’s 66.6, Sprint’s 61.1, and T-Mobile’s 52.6.
Specifically for the media upload speed, both of Verizon’s download and upload speeds (8.7 and 9.2 Mbps, respectively) were not drastically faster than the rest of the carrier, although they were much faster than speeds found on Wi-Fi; its upload speed meant e-mailing a photo takes four seconds compared to T-Mobile’s one minute.
Lastly, Staples Center, RootMetrics performed its testing during a Los Angeles Lakers game versus the Chicago Bulls. DAS and Wi-Fi have been installed by Verizon to this 15 year-old venue. 18,997 fans of the 19,060 capacity who have Verizon received the best mobile reception, albeit not as well as the other NBA arenas from this testing. The overall results were 69.9, 60.4, 48.5, and 37.2 for Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile, respectively. Verizon’s 67.3 score in reliability meant it has solid connection rates of data transfers, lacking ability to finish tasks after connection was established, especially in upload testing. T-Mobile’s meager 35.7 in reliability shows the other end of the spectrum, troubles on the two main areas; Sprint’s 58.1 and AT&T’s 48.2 were in between. Speed testing was subpar for all of these carriers, under 74.0 each.
With Staples Center’s Wi-Fi producing different median download and upload speeds (5.6 and 11.1 Mbps, respectively), Verizon median download speed proved to be almost twice as fast as the speed recorded on Wi-Fi, yet its median upload speed of 1.5 Mbps was significantly slower than that found on Wi-Fi; the former allows a fan to download a song in less than five seconds with Verizon, whereas T-Mobile’s 0.2 takes four minutes for such an activity.
RootMetrics’ efforts supports the overarching trend of smartphones being a perpetual staple to transform the way fans experience NBA games. Verizon ended up testing out the best across the four NBA arenas of this study–sole carrier’s installation of wireless doesn’t necessarily suggests its own service will even generate great mobile reception versus competitors. It’s worth noting that the only clear advantage of Wi-Fi compared to the mobile networks was for median upload speeds found at Staples Center. The carriers virtually always struggled to record median download and upload speeds comparable to those found during other recent testing in the broader metro area performed by RootMetrics.
Consequently, fans are highly likely to extensive demands on mobile networks and in-venue technologies; and assisting carriers and venues comprehend what fans are dealing with now only improves their ability to make decisions about future investments.
“We think that reliability–the ability to get on a network and stay on the network–is of paramount importance, whether you are attending an event inside a venue or going about your daily life. With this in mind, we think that carriers and venue operators should take steps to ensure reliability of networks as well as fast speeds, and general connectivity,” believes Moore.