New England Patriots bring Wi-Fi to fans in the stadium

A familiar scene played out across many homes on Sunday as football returned to the gridiron. People with games on the big screen also used computers on the table to follow their fantasy football teams and pick’em leagues. As fans find a need to stay connected during games to see how many fantasy points, say, the Chicago Bears defense is posting against the Indianapolis Colts, fans watching live from the stadium may have a harder time getting updates as thousands of other attendees try to do the same on their smartphones or tablets over the same network.

While not specifically for the purpose of seeing how many passing yards Jay Cutler has thrown for, Gillette Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots, will be offering a brand new wireless internet solution to its fans starting at the home opener this coming Sunday.

ComputerWorld interviewed Fred Kirsch, the vice president of content and publisher at the Patriots about the new system, how they choose an IT services vendor and what lessons they learned from older, much smaller systems in the club level seating area.

According to Kirsch, the new 802.11n wireless LAN network is composed of more than 200 indoor and outdoor access points and will allow 40 percent of fans in the stadium to simultaneously send video wirelessly. He went on to say that picking the right network services vendor made all the difference.

“I don’t care which vendor you are using, if the people aren’t up to snuff and won’t give the best customer service, it doesn’t really matter how good the hardware is,” Kirsch said. “Most football teams don’t have massive IT staffs, and if you bring in a massive project with bowlwide Wi-Fi, that’s a serious ramp-up. So you have to have a company that stands behind it.”

Any widespread solution like this requires proper cabling and maintenance to stay functional and running at peak efficiency. If businesses in Chicago wish to implement their own wireless network, it would benefit them to consult with an experienced Chicago IT support provider that can provide consultation and implementation.

According to Kirsch, the new 802.11n wireless LAN network is composed of more than 200 indoor and outdoor access points and will allow 40 percent of fans in the stadium to simultaneously send video wirelessly.