Verizon readies its network in Salt Lake City for celebrity exhibition basketball game

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – Basketball fans in Salt Lake City have a lot to cheer about on and off the court thanks to Verizon network upgrades throughout the market. For fans planning to attend events at the Salt Palace, Jon M. Huntsman Center or Vivint Arena, or the many activities surrounding the events throughout the community, Verizon has made major network enhancements throughout Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City was one of the first cities in the US to have cutting-edge 5G technology deployed in 2019, enabling customers to do everything from downloading huge documents and seamlessly streaming movies in HD audio and video, to playing console quality games and conducting video chats and video conferencing calls with clear sound and video while on the move. Verizon engineers have not slowed down since. Verizon’s 4G and 5G Ultra Wideband small cell network in the Downtown, Central City, and University neighborhoods are designed to handle large, dense crowds at sporting events, outdoor concerts, festivals, and other high-traffic, high-usage gatherings. Verizon engineers have been enhancing this stellar coverage by adding 5G Ultra Wideband service using Verizon’s premium mmWave spectrum, designed to manage wireless traffic in densely populated areas and its recently acquired C-band spectrum, designed to provide wide coverage for 5G service.

“We know how important staying connected and sharing the moment with friends and family is to customers when they are participating in exciting events like this one,” said Phillip French, Vice President of Engineering and Operations at Verizon. “We are working to ensure our customers can count on our network in Salt Lake City.”

For visitors traveling to Salt Lake City, Verizon has permanent Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) which provide 4G and 5G Ultra Wideband service throughout Salt Palace, the Huntsman Center and Vivint Arena and the Salt Lake City Airport. These DAS systems are networks of antennas that deliver wireless service within a geographical area of a large building or venue where traditional cell sites can not reach. These systems, which include unseen cables connecting numerous antennas driving the system, are common in high-traffic areas such as stadiums, convention or shopping centers, office buildings, train stations, airline terminals, and even dense, outdoor urban areas.

To support first responders during the exhibition game, Verizon’s response team will mobilize a portable small cell site that provides coverage using a satellite link and a portable generator. This mobile cell site, referred to as a SPOT (satellite picocell on a trailer), can supplement capacity for first responders if extra capacity is needed.

Lastly, the addition of 5G service and the many additional wireless solutions allow far more data to travel on the wireless network in Salt Lake City. That exponential increase in data carried into and out of the cell sites serving the community requires upgraded fiber optic cable links. Fiber optic cables are used to move data between cell sites and connect those sites to the rest of the network. Verizon has increased the capacity on the fiber connections in many cell sites in the Salt Lake City area so they can carry 10 times the amount of data, so customers can stream, share videos, access apps and connect with their friends and family more.

So for customers living in or traveling to Salt Lake City for all the upcoming basketball action, Verizon has a network they can count on.