Get coached up on tackling slow WiFi during the Super Bowl

Your social network loves the Super Bowl, but your WiFi doesn’t.

Most of the U.S. (and others around the world) will be tuned into the Big Game on Sunday, googling player’s names, tweeting reactions to the best commercials, and streaming from their Smart TVs. More than 9,000,000 households watched the Super Bowl last year and wreaked havoc on wifi networks. 

According to Nielsen, last year’s Super Bowl drew an average televised audience of about 98 million viewers. And CBS said a combined total of almost 150 million people watch the big game across platforms — including digital and streaming. Verizon clearly plans to see record cellular traffic during Super Bowl Sunday – why shouldn’t you be prepared?  

How can you tackle slow WiFi issues for your clients?

We’re here to help coach you up, so you’re prepped to be the star of the game. 

1. Check network speeds now:  Ensure your clients’ wifi network is currently running as expected. If you monitor with Domotz, you can easily run a real-time speed test on their network.
2. Contact your client: See if there are any additional devices they would like to set up and connect. They may be excited to show off a giant, brand new Smart TV!
3. Set up Alerts: With Domotz you can receive instant notifications if an issue does arise. Use Shared Alerts to define who should receive alerts (on your team) and which devices should trigger notifications through email, webhooks, Zendesk or a Slack channel.
4. Keep firmware up-to-date: A router’s firmware, like other OSs and software we use, isn’t perfect and should be regularly updated. There may be security flaws or manufacturers may release updates – be sure to check your clients’ router has the latest available firmware installed.
5. Check the Round Trip Delay: Device Response Time Monitoring gives you a simple, hassle-free way to periodically ping every single device and collect Round Trip Delay (RTD) and Packet Lost stats from the Domotz Agent to the device itself. Alerts can be configured to receive a notification if certain thresholds of Packet Lost percentage or RTD measures are breached.
6. Create a Guest Wifi Network: Are your clients having friends over? Don’t let them hog the nachos and the wifi. Setup a Guest Network. Bonus points if you come up with a witty Super Bowl-related password.

Are you the next MVP to fix Super Bowl wifi problems?

Wifi Data in the Stadium

Last year, records weren’t just set on the field… a record 24 terabytes of data was transferred within the stadium during Super Bowl LIII! Fans attending the Super Bowl could barely put down their phones to watch the action, setting new highs in Wi-Fi network usage.

Data shows that fans were interacting with social media throughout the game, fan engagement accounted for 2.83 terabytes of social data transferred. 

The record-breaking wifi usage was analyzed by Extreme Networks, Inc., the Official Wi-Fi Solutions Provider of the NFL and the official Wi-Fi Analytics Provider of Super Bowl LIII. 

More than 90 miles of audio cabling and 4,000 miles of fiber on a passive optical network to support IoT-connected systems were run throughout the stadium, and 2,000 video displays helped create an immense video presence. Almost 1,800 APs (they used Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company for Wi-Fi gear) were installed inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium — most of them located underneath the seats in the stadium! Wifi peaked at a rate of 13.06 Gbps at halftime, with a peak number of 30,605 concurrent network users.

Hard to imagine the IT team involved in a project at this scale! 

Fast facts about wifi at the Super Bowl:

Data Transferred: 24.05 TB

• Pre-game: 9.99 TB
• Game Time: 11.11 TB
• Post-Game: 2.95 TB

Peak Wi-Fi Data Transfer Rate: 13.04 Gbps

Network Spikes:

• Peak Concurrent Users: 30,605, during the halftime show
• Peak Network Utilization: 13.06 Gbps, during the halftime show

Fan Engagement:

• Number of Users: 48,845
• Engagement Rate: 69%

Most Used Streaming Apps:

• iTunes
• YouTube
• Airplay
• Spotify
• Netflix

Most Used Social Apps:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Snapchat
• Bitmoji