Improved Verizon Service at ISU events (and 5G)

[jdcyclone19]

I'd be so happy if this gets approved next week.

"Iowa State also will seek the board's permission to enter a five-year lease with Verizon aimed at improving cell phone coverage on campus in anticipation of new 5G technology next year. In the proposed lease, Verizon would install, at its expense, 14 "small cell" structures on campus light poles, including eight on the main campus, five in parking lots near the football stadium and one at the Veterinary Medicine campus. The proposed lease calls for Verizon to pay a signing bonus at the time of installation and a monthly fee for energy use and data connections."
https://www.inside.iastate.edu/article/2019/02/21/preview

 

[dafarmer]

About ####### time!

 

[Triggermv]

Here you go @IowaRealEstate . Seek and you shall find.

 

[MeowingCows]

Please God make this happen. Verizon is straight unusable on gamedays.

 

[JP4CY]

Whoever got the ball rolling on this needs a statue.

 

[Cyientist]

Poor Verizon coverage on bball gamedays has saved me from a few twitter meltdowns as I wait to leave the Hilton parking lot after the home losses though...

 

[Cardinal2001]

Use your Verizon phone at a basketball game? Unpossible!

 

[ImJustKCClone]

This makes me happy.

 

[Clonehomer]

This is one thing that I did notice at the Alamo bowl. We got there about 45 minutes prior to the game and I was actually able to stream the other bowl preceding ours.

Now the question is whether it'll be good enough to stream TV while tailgating.

 

[1100011CS]

Use your Verizon phone at a basketball game? Unpossible!

Would they need to put "cells" inside of Hilton to improve connections? Or would the additional cells in the parking lot take care of it?

 

[wxman1]

I will believe the improved coverage when I see it. I am hoping it will improve with time but we have these around CR and Marion including several in our neighborhood and I have not noticed any change in service.

 

[CyTwins]

This is one thing that I did notice at the Alamo bowl. We got there about 45 minutes prior to the game and I was actually able to stream the other bowl preceding ours.

Now the question is whether it'll be good enough to stream TV while tailgating.

The free WiFI in the Alamo Bowl was amazing

 

[JP4CY]

The free WiFI in the Alamo Bowl was amazing

And that was a concrete jungle.

 

[spierceisu]

I know I always saw the portable US Cellular towers that were put around the tailgating areas on gamedays. I figured that is why US cellular would work. I thought that this was due to US Cellular being a "feature cell phone provider to ISU athletics" or something dumb like that. Without all the towers around for Verizon, i always thought it was because the towers were overloaded.

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

US Cellular wasn't/isn't that good either. I always said the tower was just for show and not for use. Yes, I have USCell.

 

[alarson]

Hopefully they can something for inside Hilton as well.

 

[jdcyclone19]

The free WiFI in the Alamo Bowl was amazing

I agree, that was awesome. You would think if ISU can handle of campus of 35K+employees spread out all over campus, they can handle a stadium of 60K in a smaller area.

 

[GrappleCy]

Would they need to put "cells" inside of Hilton to improve connections? Or would the additional cells in the parking lot take care of it?

I'd think it would take a bunch of minitowers within Hilton and Trice, wouldn't it? The issue isn't signal strength, it's that they are overwhelmed by the number of connections.

 

[CYdTracked]

With all the focus on promoting the use of social media at ISU events I'm not sure why we don't have WiFi in Hilton by now. I don't know how people are able to post during basketball games if they have Verizon as I'm lucky if I can get any of my apps to load as bad as the service is. Probably wishful thinking to happen at Jack Trice any time soon as it would be a lot bigger project to be able to install enough infrastructure to handle all the connections for a 60k crowd compared to a 14k crowd at Hilton in a more confined indoor environment as well.

For football it's really sad too when there are games such as the Iowa game where you are lucky to even be able to text or dial out at times. That's almost a safety issue there if you needed to call out or be reached for an emergency and you can't get through or your call keeps dropping.

 

[DollaDollaBill]

Turn 4G off in Hilton and then your phone will work... kind of