So, there I was last night at MAPFRE, watching Columbus take on NYC. And being a moderator on a certain soccer website that will remain nameless, as well as liking to watch highlights, get stats, and the rise of social media, etc etc -- I noticed something about my home stadium, which I love: The signal sucks. Not only is there NOT WiFi available to the fans, but the general signal to just use cellular data is almost nonexistent. So it got me curious -- how good/not good are the wireless networks at the different venues?
Mobile service is decent at RFK. Once upon a time open wi-fi covered much of the stadium. Then it was just areas near the press. Then it was closed and barely existent. Now there is nothing available to fans. I don't mind as much since mobile data rates are fine most of the time. It does annoy me when large venues do not have open wi-fi now though. It has become something I expect. The antennas in the Verizon Center are very directional so the wi-fi can be spotty. Where it's good it's good. I haven't had problems at FedEx Field with wifi. I will be disappointed if a new venue does not have open WiFi.
Nationwide Arena has WiFi, but it's as spotty and inconsistent as the team that plays there. But my theory is that any venue that has luxury boxes should have modems/transmitters inside those luxury boxes, that can broadcast to the different sections of the arena/stadium. If that's not realistic, well, I'll need someone to explain why.
In the Verizon Center there are repeaters throughout concourse and club areas as well as boxes. It's the actual seating bowl that is spotty. Most of those repeaters are on the ceiling and are directional/can't handle the bandwidth for many areas. I don't believe I've ever had problems with Verizon inside of the Verizon Center. I just wish I didn't have to use it sometimes. I hate being teased by "free" WiFi.
DSG Park has no wifi. for a while I could pick up a weak signal from the press boxes on the other side of the field but that's gone now as well. One of the unkept promises from the Ciao sponsorship was to tech out the stadium. I was really looking forward to that. I was on 3G through last season and I was lucky to be able to get a strong enough signal during a game to even get the MLS app to update the scoreboard. In an mostly empty stadium 3G was no problem. I upgraded to a new 6S this offseason and the LTE signal is pretty strong at the stadium.
Avaya Stadium has free Wi-Fi. It started out well at the beginning of last season but then got somewhat spotty throughout the middle portion of the season before becoming reliable again near the end. It's been pretty reliable this season thus far, though. -G
Childern's Mercy Park. Free, pretty reliable wifi. Although, it can be a little slow at halftime. But, I don't bother with the wifi, because I get 5 bars of LTE anyway, so there is no point.
I thought it was great. Opened up a webpage on my phone, ordered some beer and it was delivered. Wait, mobile service?
Providence Park has good cell coverage, except just before game, during halftime, and just after game, when the cell network grinds to a halt. I honestly don't know about wifi, because I never turn that on.