T-Mobile had the fastest LTE network at the Super Bowl, Verizon customers created 4.1TB of data

For most, the important numbers from the Super Bowl were 28-24 which of course was the final score in favor of New England. But for the four major U.S. carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T, the more important figures are 13.2, 11.4, 8.8 and 5.7. Those are the data speeds (in Mbps) that the carriers achieved inside the stadium during the game.

T-Mobile had the fastest 4G LTE network at the Super Bowl at 13.2Mbps. Verizon was next with a speed of 11.4Mbps, followed by AT&T and Sprint. Those two carriers sent data at 8.8Mbps and 5.7Mbps respectively. Inside the University of Phoenix Stadium, where 60% of the mobile devices carried the Verizon name, Big Red customers generated 4.1TB of data inside the stadium, up from the 1.9TB they created during last year's game. AT&T subscribers inside and outside the stadium accounted for 1.7TB of data use during Super Bowl 49. Sprint customers generated 754GB of data during the game, a gain of 259% over last year's Super Bowl. T-Mobile customers were responsible for 430GB of data used inside the stadium. T-Mobile customers used 33% of the data for browsing, 24% on social media sites and 17% for audio and video streaming.

To help its mobile customers at the game, Verizon built new cell sites nearby the stadium, added 13 mobile cell sites and indoor and outdoor distributed antenna systems (DAS). Big Red also added AWS spectrum. AT&T brought 13 permanent DAS and 13 mobile cell sites to the Super Bowl. For its part, Sprint brought inside the stadium additional cell sites including its 2 X 20 (40MHz) system running over its 2.5GHz spectrum. T-Mobile "expanded backhaul capacity and put in place special event network parameters in and around the Glendale, AZ area to maintain T-Mobile's excellent 4G LTE coverage in this area."

New England and Seattle stepped up to give us an entertaining game. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint each stepped up as well, providing enough cellular capacity for their customers inside the stadium to be able to stay in touch with the outside world without a problem.

source: FierceWireless