Inside Look: How Verizon Is Bringing Faster 5G to Phoenix for Super Bowl LVII

Ever go to a concert or sporting event, pay a fortune for tickets, and can't get a signal on your phone to share a picture or video of the action? Carriers are tackling this issue head-on for fans attending Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in Arizona.

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting and cultural events to take place in the US every year. According to the NFL, more than 208 million Americans—about two-thirds of the country's population—tuned in at some point on February 13, 2022, to watch Super Bowl LVI. That includes people who watched on TV in homes, bars, and restaurants, and those who streamed the game online.

Most viewers around the country don't have to worry much about sharing the Super Bowl experience through their phones; they have non-congested home Wi-Fi or cell networks to rely on. But 125,000 people on the ground in Phoenix—and particularly the expected 75,000 or more fans inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale—may find themselves relying more heavily on AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon than Wi-Fi for connectivity. And as you might have experienced at some point or other, cramming so many people into such a small area can often lead to poor wireless service for everyone. After all, cell sites can only handle so much traffic.

That's why Verizon, AT&T, and their partners Crown Castle and Engineering Wireless Services have spent the past two years preparing for Super Bowl LVII, boosting 4G and 5G coverage not only in and around the stadium, but in downtown Phoenix as well. Verizon invited us to Phoenix to demonstrate what attendees can expect during the event—beyond the on-field action.

Setting the Stage

Though the Super Bowl is still two nearly two months out, Verizon already has some stats shaping the experience. For example, about 60% of the attendees of Super Bowl LVI, which took place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA, used Verizon's network on game day. Those fans saw peak speeds of 3.89Gbps during the game and consumed some 30.4TB of data both in and outside the stadium. Verizon says that represented a 20% increase over the 25.3TB of data usage at Super Bowl LV in 2021. The biggest surges in data consumption occurred during kickoff and during the halftime show, when fans streamed the experiences over social media.

According to Jeff Poloncak, senior manager of radio frequency at Verizon, "more than half" of the attendees at Super Bowl LVII are expected to be Verizon users. More importantly, about half of those people will be equipped with a 5G-capable phone. Thinking ahead, if Verizon's network sees another 20% year-over-year increase in data use, that means fans might devour as much as 36.5TB on game day. That's why Verizon targeted both its 4G and 5G networks for improvement ahead of the game.

Building a Speedier Stadium

Verizon boosted its network at State Farm Stadium from the ground up. Starting with the fiber, the optical pipes that make high-speed internet service a reality (and which is shared to an extent by all three national wireless carriers), Verizon has ensured that it has the bandwidth needed to feed network traffic into and out of the stadium. The fiber pours capacity into the networking equipment placed around the arena, which is meant to provide fast access to fans at every level.

Verizons notes that Crown Castle "owns the neutral host network" at the stadium and Engineering Wireless Services (EWS) was the primary sub-contractor that performed the general construction on the infrastructure in the building. Verizon's engineers spent countless hours working with Crown Castle and EWS in designing and optimizing the in-building system at the stadium. Verizon "provides the signal source" which is what that provides its customers with access via the neutral host network.

To that end, there are more than 460 5G nodes inside the stadium, including 66 new mmWave nodes for high-speed 5G service (mmWave 5G is deployed on extremely small wavelengths, 28GHz and 39GHz by Verizon). It's capable of extreme speeds, but requires line of site (meaning it doesn't necessarily travel through walls) and supports a limited number of users per node. Inside the stadium, the mmWave nodes are directional and many are aimed directly at seats for clear access.

During tests of mmWave service in the empty stadium, PCMag recorded peak downloads of 3.99Gbps (using an Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max), with average mmWave downloads at 3.52Gbps. Uploads were much slower, peaking at 317Mbps and averaging 204Mbps via mmWave. That's still fast enough for making FaceTime calls and uploading posts to Instagram and TikTok.

Capacity, however, is more important than raw speed, which is why Verizon deployed its Ultra Wideband service over C-band spectrum everywhere it could. C-band spectrum resides below 6GHz and provides slower (but still faster than 4G) service to far more people. The carrier and its partners placed 1,400 LTE 4G and C-band 5G antennas under the seats in every section of the stadium. Each of these antennas can serve up to 38 individual connections. Walking around the stadium, they are visible in every section.

Peak download speeds over C-band service reached 447Mbps and averaged 313Mbps. Again, C-band uploads are much slower than downloads. They peaked at 197Mbps, but averaged 57.5Mbps. The sheer volume of these antennas support up to 53,200 concurrent connections, which would amount to about 70% of the expected number of people inside the stadium during the game.

Then there are the Matsing balls. Matsing balls are spherical lens antennas that use beam forming to provide highly specific coverage areas, each replacing as many as 48 individual antennas. The stadium has eight Matsing balls in various locations, supporting both mmWave and C-band. Two pairs are aimed directly at the 50-yard line of each sideline to provide the teams with coverage, and four more are located in the configurable Red Zone end of the stadium, where temporary seating will be installed to fit as many as 9,500 more fans into the stadium for the game.

Verizon didn't specify just how much speed and capacity is available via the Matsing balls, but in our speed tests, we saw outstanding performance in those areas of the stadium.

But how does the network perform during a game? Verizon hosted PCMag for a Monday Night Football game during which the Arizona Cardinals played the New England Patriots to showcase its network performance. (In fact, Verizon is using every Cardinals home game and other events to test the stadium's network). We weren't provided with attendance figures for the specific game in question, but anecdotally the stadium appeared to be mostly full (normal capacity for State Farm Stadium is 63,400). We ran both mmWave and C-band speed tests during the game, including during kickoff and the halftime show, and came up with numbers that fell right in line with our pre-game averages. Peak mmWave speeds were about 3.4Gbps and peak C-band speeds were about 300Mbps. Considering the fact that we were surrounded by tens of thousands of fans, many of whom were using their phones, that's pretty impressive.

To put these numbers into some perspective, the fastest download speed I achieved on T-Mobile's network inside the stadium was 710Mbps (using a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4), with the average download at 222Mbps. Uploads over T-Mobile's 5G network were limited to a peak of 81Mbps and an average of 50.4Mbps. We didn't test AT&T's 5G service in the stadium.

State Farm Stadium does have a Wi-Fi system that's open to the public. When the stadium was empty, we saw peak Wi-Fi download speeds of just 15Mbps and peak uploads of 5Mbps. Latency, however, was often measured in multiple seconds rather than milliseconds, and the Ookla Speed Test app failed entirely to run over the public Wi-Fi on several instances. During the game, connecting to the public Wi-Fi system at all was difficult. The top download speed we recorded over Wi-Fi while the action was taking place on the field was 7.3Mbps and uploads peaked at 1.5Mbps. Those are 3G speeds. In practical terms, loading simple websites or refreshing social media feeds didn't work at all when connected to the public Wi-Fi. We were forced to turn our devices' Wi-Fi radios off to access data in a usable capacity.

Things'll Be Great When You're Downtown

Verizon didn't stop at the stadium. The Westgate Entertainment District, which is a collection of shops and restaurants across from the stadium (and sure to be popular with game day fans), gained 90 4G nodes and 180 5G nodes for additional coverage and capacity. Our on-the-ground speed tests there were just as good as those in the arena.

Verizon also targeted downtown Phoenix itself, as well as areas throughout the valley, with both mmWave and C-band spectrum coverage. Verizon specifically boosted adjacent cities including Chandler, Scottsdale, and Tempe. It improved coverage in and near the Phoenix Sun Footprint Arena, as well as the Phoenix Convention Center and various area hotels where many of the pre-game activities will take place. A speed test run outside the downtown convention center netted a peak download speed of 4.1Gbps over mmWave, with an upload speed of 395Mbps. That's about as fast as it gets.

Don't think that Verizon's preparations end on game day. The company has set up a regional command center through which all the network performance metrics will be analyzed in real time. Verizon will fill the command center with engineers and employees working in 12-hour shifts ahead of and during the game to make sure its network performs at its peak. Individual command center stations will cover every aspect of the network, from antennas to nodes to seating sections and more. We weren't allowed to photograph the specifics, but the granularity of Verizon's view of its own network is intense.

David Nelson, Verizon's director of network operations in the Phoenix area, said the command center will also be used for 2024's Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The cities are close enough that Verizon can manage the Allegiant network from afar.

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Verizon executives Lynn Cox, SVP and chief engineer, and Joe Russo, SVP and chief network officer, both voiced excitement about the preparations ahead of Super Bowl LVII. The company didn't provide PCMag with a specific dollar figure, though it highlighted spending of around $119 million ahead of Super Bowl LVI at SoFI in Inglewood. Whatever the final number turns out to be, Cox and Russo believe Verizon's investment on the ground in Phoenix and State Farm Stadium will pay off come February 12, 2023.

AT&T Is Playing Ball, Too

AT&T and its FirstNet team made their own network investments and upgrades in and around the stadium to make sure customers get the best possible voice and data experience before and during game day.

For example, AT&T says it and its partners deployed more than 2,000 wireless network antennas inside State Farm Stadium. The antennas are supported by 12 miles of fiber and power cabling to provide both coverage and capacity throughout. AT&T says seating across all levels, including executive suites, box seats, and concession and service areas, will experience improved 4G and 5G service. Specifically, AT&T added its combined 5G mmWave and C-band spectrum service, branded AT&T 5G+, all around the stadium's interior with dedicated service in the suites.

The company installed some 64 antennas around the exterior of the stadium, supported by 15 miles of fiber, to provide band 14, 5G, mmWave and C-band 5G+, and 4G LTE coverage to the parking lot and Westgate Entertainment District.

Like Verizon, AT&T beefed up its network in the greater Phoenix area as well. It equipped area hotels with iDAS (indoor distributive antenna systems) networks to improve indoor coverage, and performed select upgrades at pre-Super Bowl event spaces including the Footprint Center Arena, the convention center, the Symphony Hall, the Gila River Arena, and the Arizona State University campus. Other NFL event locations will see temporary network improvements via the use of COWs (cell on wheels), SatCOLTs (satellite cell on light trucks), and CRDs (compact rapid deployables). Some of these spaces include the Arizona State Fairgrounds, ESPN Zone in Old Town Scottsdale, and Margaret T. Hance Park, as well as areas around the greater metropolitan Phoenix area.

AT&T expects to have many local and national staff on-site ahead of and during the Super Bowl to provide network support.

PCMag reached out to T-Mobile concerning its efforts to prepare ahead of Super Bowl LVI and it didn't respond as of press time. If and when it does, we'll update this article accordingly.

A Commitment to Big Experiences

AT&T and Verizon know that sharing cultural experiences via our smartphones has become a critical aspect of participating in big events like the Super Bowl. For many years, large public spaces such as stadiums and arenas were underserved by networks and the customer experience was poor as a result. Both carriers' preparations for Super Bowl LVII demonstrate that they are committed to ensuring the best possible performance of their individual networks come game day.

And they won't stop with State Farm Stadium. On February 13, 2023 (the day after Super Bowl LVII), David Nelson said Verizon's team in Phoenix will shift focus to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII, while another regional center will turn to the Superdome in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX.

This article was updated Dec. 18 to provide insight on the stadium's public Wi-Fi performance and on Jan. 5 to include mention of Verizon's local partners at State Farm Stadium.