Why you can't get a signal at festivals and sports matches

Ben Jones accepts a certain amount of frustration is part and parcel of being a football fan. But that should be because of the action on the pitch, not because he can't use his mobile phone to call a friend in the stadium, or check the progress of other critical games.

"It's going to affect things so much, if this team wins, if that team draws…" says the creative director from North London. "So, to then go on your phone and find that you can't even get a bar? It's crazy."

Connectivity, over mobile and fixed networks, is critical when people come together at sports tournaments, cultural festivals, or business events. When it fails venue operators and fans suffer.

One of the UK's newest sports stadia is Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium. The connectivity in the stadium was developed with HPE Aruba.

On a matchday, it handles 11Gb inbound and outbound bandwidth, and data transfer of 205TB.

The setup can support 18,000 simultaneous wi-fi connections, while a distributed antenna system (DAS) boosts mobile phone coverage in the stadium. "So, you know your phone will work," says Phil Davies, IT Director at Everton Football Club.

It means Everton can meet the needs of broadcasters and photographers, as well as the emergency services and security.

The network also underpins the fan experience, from ticketing and stadium maps, to cashless payments for drinks, food and merchandise.

In the football world, the Premier League, UEFA, and FIFA all have strict requirements for connectivity, not least because of the massive bandwidth needs of broadcasters.

An elite event like the Champions League final will involve upwards of 40 or more cameras.

Each would demand 1.5Gbps of bandwidth, estimates Peter Coppens, VP of product at telecom provider Colt Technology.

Catering for this typically means two high-capacity fibre connections into and out of the stadium.

By contrast, Ofcom regards 10Mbps download, and 1Mbps upload as "decent" for domestic broadband - that's 150 times less bandwidth than needed for a Champions League game.

While newer venues can build-in connectivity for their own operations while offering ticket holders better wi-fi, and even mobile coverage, visitors to other sites continue to struggle.

Simple physics means a steel and concrete venue filled with thousands of people is already a very harsh network environment, says Elliot Townsend, senior director at HPE Networking.

Sports events will create spikes in demand, for example at half time, while concerts produce "relentless, sustained pressure from start to finish".

And this can spill over beyond the venue itself.

"Mass crowds at stadiums and cultural sites place immense strain on mobile networks," says Gareth Elliott, director of policy and communications at trade association Mobile UK, "often exceeding local capacity as thousands share limited bandwidth simultaneously."

Mobile operators are rolling out technologies like 5G and 5GSA, says Elliot, which will allow them to connect many, many more customers in and around venues.

But those upgrade programmes are often slowed down by local objections.

"To have that signal, you need that infrastructure, and that's where the planning system comes into play," Elliott says.

Over time, he predicts, "We will see those service levels and speeds and experience improve, and we're already seeing some of that playing out."

Connecting temporary events, such as a golf tournament or a music festival, is challenging, says Simon Wilson, chief technology solutions leader at HPE Aruba Networking.

Most of the infrastructure will have been built just weeks before the event, but failure is not an option for sports events in particular. It's obviously unacceptable, says Wilson, "If you're five seconds late for the 100 metres."

But it's not just broadcasters who need connectivity. The fans inside a stadium or festival ground will use their mobile devices to contact friends, carry their tickets, navigate around the venue, and make payments.

Meanwhile, the back-end systems powering the venue, for cashless sales of merchandise and food, ticketing, or crowd control and safety, are also inter-connected.

Jess Scott, part of the team behind Guilfest, an annual two-day music festival in Surrey, knows just how important connectivity is for both ticket holders and organizers, however large or small an event is.

"We have wi-fi in the box office, wi-fi in the production office," she explains. This year, Guilfest will run its own bar, which means connected payment terminals. Scott knows from past experience that if the wi-fi goes down, "You can't take payment for anything."

But is there a limit to how connected crowds really want to be?

Jess Scott says some music fans might actually see not using their phone is "part of the festival experience".

Everton's Davies says while technology can help fans share their "experience" from their seats, the club also wants to "generate an atmosphere in the stadium".

Having large sections of the crowd looking at their phones, not at the action on the pitch, could undermine that. There's a balance to be struck, he says.

Meanwhile, for football fan Jones, there's continued frustration in being able to do some things with his phone, such as carry his ticket or pay for food, and not others.

"You kind of sit and think, 'Oh, isn't technology great', until you have to do the traditional old thing of actually phoning somebody."