When it comes to a fan’s quality of experience (QoE), stadiums and large venues are rolling out the red carpet. Gone are the days of cold pizza and missing the game-winning play while waiting in line for a beer. Today, stadiums have become beacons of luxury, convenience and exceptional customer experience.
Despite millions of dollars in VIP suite upgrades, Hollywood-style concourse redesigns, and supersized jumbotrons, attendees are increasingly more active on smart devices during events. Continuous connectivity has become part of the fan experience. Any fan-friendly stadium or ballpark redesign would be incomplete without the requisite technology upgrades that keep fans connected. Of course, without the properly designed platform for viewing and engagement, you cannot assure that a fan will stay for long.
To ensure fans’ connection experience is seamless, stadiums, arenas and ballparks typically rely on cellular carriers or neutral host telecommunications providers to deploy Distributed Antenna System (DAS) networks that extend coverage and increase capacity.
The Blind Side
Unfortunately, and quite surprisingly, stadium owners don’t have access to the network’s quality of service (QoS) analytics.They don’t know how well the network is performing on any given day, over time, or at any specific location within the venue.
The lack of visibility into the quality of network service creates a blind spot in an otherwise well-executed QoE plan. So how can stadiums and venues gauge the quality of online customer experience, especially if they have no visibility into the network that their customers use?
SiteProbe Measures QoS
It’s a dilemma that C2 Systems felt needed resolution. We recognized the challenge that venue owners faced, and developed SiteProbe; a wireless, remote and intelligent modem that measures the quality of service of a venue’s DAS network throughout the stadium. SiteProbe’s unique coding and configuration solves a major challenge of venue owners who need to understand network performance in order to optimize their customer’s game-day experience.
Using SiteProbe along with C2 Systems’ remote monitoring and management software SitePortal®, venue owners can now see exactly where coverage challenges exist, identify spots where massive game-day crowds choke capacity or recognize where the network is performing as expected.
Our SiteProbe design includes features that venue owners requested most. It is agile with a plug-and-play design that is easy to deploy and relocate indoors or out. It is scalable – users can easily add unlimited probes to test and measure multiple DAS points and flexible enough to test different carriers and RF frequencies. SiteProbe is an ideal, lightweight solution that eliminates the need for costly big data analytics or expensive walk-testing. It’s immediate and accurate, delivering real-time RF and data throughput performance and reliability testing that is exact, repeatable and verifiable. Data sets can be recorded for comparison over time or under various use case scenarios to deliver the intelligence needed to fully understand network coverage and capacity; the two factors that impact a fan’s connected quality of experience.
Managing QoS
SiteProbe adds a new level of manageability and functionality that measures the DAS quality of service. It delivers clear, valid data and insights that help venue owners manage the connected aspect of their customers’ experience. It helps validate network service agreements; venue owners can use SiteProbe insights to work with carriers or neutral host providers to better manage or improve the ever-important customer communication experience.
Visit our SiteProbe webpage or contact C2 Systems directly to learn more about how measuring your network performance is a critical component of ensuring the quality of your customer’s experience.
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