Let’s Talk About Improved JMA Wireless Dome Internet Access

[David332]

Verizon has worked just fine for me and a lot of others the last two home games with 5g…

I think it depends where you sit, it's been tough sledding in the upper corners with data. At least for me.

 

[richmondcuse03]

I used to have ZERO service before the last two games. Close to field in 100s. Key is NOT to use the Dome Wifi anymore. Make sure 5G is turned on in your phone. If you have an old phone, it wont work but newer phones with 5G will see way better service.

It's great when little kids get restless. Wish I had it years ago...

 

[JRHEETER]

It’s might be because your straight talk so everyone with regular Verizon is going to be serviced first before you

Since it’s an area where there’s a high amount of volume, you’re probably bumped to the bottom

You may never have great service within the dome

 

[sutomcat]

I used to have ZERO service before the last two games. Close to field in 100s. Key is NOT to use the Dome Wifi anymore. Make sure 5G is turned on in your phone. If you have an old phone, it wont work but newer phones with 5G will see way better service.

It's great when little kids get restless. Wish I had it years ago...

Agree about the WiFi. I don't think they have done anything with that OrangeHOTSPOT wifi network and perhaps they never will. But if you are connected to it, I believe that becomes your method of communication and you lose any ability to access all that 5G goodness.

So for the love of God, if you are ever in the dome, and you see a 5G signal on your phone, do not connect to the OrangeHOTSPOT wifi network. Only connect to it in an emergency situation. Not sure there is ever a situation that urgent.

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[upperdeck]

if it works for fball next yr that would be nice.. didnt work for me for the BC game for sure.

 

[brandokc]

Oh I've tried like hundreds of times, no data. I have Straight Talk/ Verizon towers.

Wireless networks prioritize traffic based on device, tonnage used in the current billing period, postpaid vs prepaid. Voice devices typically get highest priority, followed by data devices. Since Straight Talk is a prepaid vehicle for Verizon, their service will slot behind Verizon devices whether smartphone or data devices.

 

[FasterCuse]

I'm on Verizon and ran some speed testa during the game in a few different locations. Consistently was getting 75-100mbs download and about 25mbs upload speed, which is better than some people get at home.

 

[David332]

Wireless networks prioritize traffic based on device, tonnage used in the current billing period, postpaid vs prepaid. Voice devices typically get highest priority, followed by data devices. Since Straight Talk is a prepaid vehicle for Verizon, their service will slot behind Verizon devices whether smartphone or data devices.

Thanks for this explanation; the family in front of me were able to run their tablet off data while I couldn’t even get on FB. This would explain why.

 

[upperdeck]

I'm on Verizon and ran some speed testa during the game in a few different locations. Consistently was getting 75-100mbs download and about 25mbs upload speed, which is better than some people get at home.

thats really not that fast though for 5g service like what was installed. I saw some test of more like 600mb down in places JMA has installed. 100 is more like wifi speed.

 

[Wrinkle]

One of the greatest schemes of our time is advertising internet speeds in megaBITS not megaBYTES. Why do they do? 100% to deceive the undiscerning customer

 

[upperdeck]

bits are for speed. bytes are for storage..

 

[FasterCuse]

thats really not that fast though for 5g service like what was installed. I saw some test of more like 600mb down in places JMA has installed. 100 is more like wifi speed.

Yeah agreed, but there are so many factors in getting those speeds consistently from 5G l. I was just happy with the 100 down. I'm on a pixel 7 pro and thought it said 5G uw which is supposed to be Verizon's fastest network, but I did have a few drinks in me so the memory is a little fuzzy. I'm assuming as Verizon and JMA optimize things the network will only get better. I'm just happy that I can now watch other games during the 4 minute commercial timeouts and check on my Draft Kings account.

 

[MSOrange]

How JMA and Syracuse University solved the dome’s frustrating cellphone problem

The fix is already available to customers of one major cellular carrier.

www.syracuse.com

 

[sutomcat]

How JMA and Syracuse University solved the dome’s frustrating cellphone problem

The fix is already available to customers of one major cellular carrier.

www.syracuse.com

Interesting that the equipment for this is stored across the street in a parking garage. Can't take that much space. I guess that space remains very tight at the dome so they had to spend a ton of time and effort and money to put it in another building.

The whole pencil antenna discussion confused me a bit. This JMA solution is routinely installed in domes in NFL stadia. If the big driving force was the metal seats and they are being replaced this summer, before the system is even fully implemented, something doesn't add up. I read the article quickly and maybe I missed something.

Hopefully JMA realized their initial antenna was awful and finally took steps to fix it. I suspect that is the real story but they didn't want to admit that.

 

[orangeinjersey]

Interesting that the equipment for this is stored across the street in a parking garage. Can't take that much space. I guess that space remains very tight at the dome so they had to spend a ton of time and effort and money to put it in another building.

The whole pencil antenna discussion confused me a bit. This JMA solution is routinely installed in domes in NFL stadia. If the big driving force was the metal seats and they are being replaced this summer, before the system is even fully implemented, something doesn't add up. I read the article quickly and maybe I missed something.

Hopefully JMA realized their initial antenna was awful and finally took steps to fix it. I suspect that is the real story but they didn't want to admit that.

I worked at the dome while I spent my years on the hill. Every inch of that place was crammed back then, I can only imagine now.

The head-end room for a venue of this size could easily be 1000-1500 sq ft. I assure you, there isn’t 1500 sq ft of space in the dome footprint.

The metal seats are def problematic in an indoor facility, my guess is the lack of supporting antennas on the old roof were the biggest obstacles. Antennas have to serve certain areas to eliminate overlap (dumbing it down for everyone) in adjacent zones. Antennas supported on ceilings of arenas and domes can be utilized to serve specific areas.

Remember, this project is 2 yrs behind schedule. A project of this size typically will have a 6-12 month design time once contracts are signed. So working backwards, when the original design first started, swapping metal benches for plastic seats might not have even been even a thought in the SU administrations thought process.

Whatever the case, the system is up, its state of the art, and SU and the fanbase should be proud to have a state of the art system in their on campus facility. FWIW I had a pro sports venue project shelved last month due to funding after we finished the Design (no money to build it).

 

[DPCuse]

No idea it was this complicated. I thought you throw up an antenna or three and call it a day. Had no idea the bouncing around of signals messed things up as did the metal bleachers. And can't wrap my head around the pencil beams and how that works. In any event, glad we have this technology even though it's delayed.

 

[sutomcat]

I worked at the dome while I spent my years on the hill. Every inch of that place was crammed back then, I can only imagine now.

The head-end room for a venue of this size could easily be 1000-1500 sq ft. I assure you, there isn’t 1500 sq ft of space in the dome footprint.

The metal seats are def problematic in an indoor facility, my guess is the lack of supporting antennas on the old roof were the biggest obstacles. Antennas have to serve certain areas to eliminate overlap (dumbing it down for everyone) in adjacent zones. Antennas supported on ceilings of arenas and domes can be utilized to serve specific areas.

Remember, this project is 2 yrs behind schedule. A project of this size typically will have a 6-12 month design time once contracts are signed. So working backwards, when the original design first started, swapping metal benches for plastic seats might not have even been even a thought in the SU administrations thought process.

Whatever the case, the system is up, its state of the art, and SU and the fanbase should be proud to have a state of the art system in their on campus facility. FWIW I had a pro sports venue project shelved last month due to funding after we finished the Design (no money to build it).

A couple of things here.

I disagree with your size estimate. 1500 square feet is a small house. That is a very questionable estimate for space requirements here. You might know a lot more about this than I do but I am in IT and have not seen space requirements like that for high tech networking equipment like that since the 1970s.

Here is the rack room at Sofi, a much bigger stadium with far more network requirements. You can look into it from the stadium concourse. I assume this is where all the equipment for the network is housed. This includes switches, servers, routers, etc (not just the equipment installed by the wireless carriers).

That said, I don't work with this equipment and don't know for sure. I know there are people on the board who do know this stuff for certain. I encourage them to weigh in on this. Definitely agree that with our undersized concourses, we could not entertain showcasing the world class technology used at the dome like Sofi does so well here.

The powers that be have known they were replacing the seats for years. They actually are behind on that project as well. No way this wasn't knowm were the design for the dome was made by JMA.

Also regarding space limitations, I agree that the existing rooms in the dome are all fully utilized. However, I suspect you aren't thinking about the major expansion on the eastern side of the stadium, which is adding a ton of additional space to the building (finally going outside the original footprint) and all the space above the upper level (take a look at the stairs and the space up there).

What is done is done. I am sure Pete likes having that third party equipment housed outside his facility.

 

[orangeinjersey]

A couple of things here.

I disagree with your size estimate. 1500 square feet is a small house. That is a very questionable estimate for space requirements here. You might know a lot more about this than I do but I am in IT and have not seen space requirements like that for high tech networking equipment like that since the 1970s.

Here is the rack room at Sofi, a much bigger stadium with far more network requirements. You can look into it from the stadium concourse. I assume this is where all the equipment for the network is housed. This includes switches, servers, routers, etc (not just the equipment installed by the wireless carriers).

That said, I don't work with this equipment and don't know for sure. I know there are people on the board who do know this stuff for certain. I encourage them to weigh in on this. Definitely agree that with our undersized concourses, we could not entertain showcasing the world class technology used at the dome like Sofi does so well here.

The powers that be have known they were replacing the seats for years. They actually are behind on that project as well. No way this wasn't knowm were the design for the dome was made by JMA.

Also regarding space limitations, I agree that the existing rooms in the dome are all fully utilized. However, I suspect you aren't thinking about the major expansion on the eastern side of the stadium, which is adding a ton of additional space to the building (finally going outside the original footprint) and all the space above the upper level (take a look at the stairs and the space up there).

What is done is done. I am sure Pete likes having that third party equipment housed outside his facility.

Not to get into a pissing match, but I just told you I work in this space, and have worked on venues much larger than the cute dome right?

I have no idea what little IT server room you showed above, but here is what the DAS room at SOFI looks like, 13K square feet.

SoFi Stadium Modular DAS Data Center | HKS Architects

The Challenge In September 2019, nine (9) months prior to opening, the SoFi Stadium team redesigned the in-stadium, Distributed Antenna System (DAS) data center to accommodate additional retail and seating at the site. As a result, the new DAS data center was housed onsite, yet outside of the...

www.hksinc.com

Its not just the telecom DAS gear, the carrier signal gear, the transport gear, the fiber termination cabinets. How about all of the electrical to run it all? Disconnect switches, transformers. How about the back up power? Is there a generator? Probably not, which means we have to bring in UPS cabinets to backup ALL OF THE LOADS. Oh yeah, how do we cool this? Giant CRAC units (also redundant). What about fire supression? Oh yeah, tanks of clea agent in the room. What about expansion, gotta build in for that too. Oh yeah, the carriers have to bring in their own battery backups too, their own networking racks etc. Oh yeah, and everything in the room has a 3' clearance requirement. These things take up space.

Is the garage public? If so, someone take a ride up there, my guess is they dropped a prefab shelter on one of the levels of the adjacent garage.

Stop the naysaying. The admin and JMA are doing a hell of a job. Remember, a lot of this was during covid. Factories were shut down everywhere, none of the vendors were making anything, the lead times on this big stuff was a YEAR+.