Seattle is ready to party, and T-Mobile wants to make sure the celebration stays connected. As the Seahawks prepare for their championship parade this Wednesday, the wireless carrier is pulling out all the stops to ensure fans and emergency responders can stay online and communicate without interruption.
The need for reliable connectivity during a major event is no joke. According to the Un-carrier, the company has already proven its network can handle the pressure. During the Super Bowl, T-Mobile customers streamed, shared, and celebrated so much that they used about 11 terabytes of data inside the stadium alone. That’s nearly 70 percent more data than the previous year and enough to stream thousands of high-definition movies or over 70,000 hours of music.
The difference between then and now shows real progress. During the Super Bowl, 95 percent of devices connecting to T-Mobile’s network were using 5G, up from 83 percent the year before. When the biggest moments happened, demand spiked during the second and fourth quarters as fans immediately shared highlights and reactions in real time.
Now T-Mobile is applying those same lessons to keep the parade running smoothly. “Big moments create big demand, and that’s exactly what T-Mobile’s network is built for,” said Salim Kouidri, the carrier’s Senior Vice President of Technology. The company has spent weeks preparing the network across Seattle by expanding capacity in key areas and setting up backup systems throughout the city.
The company is giving emergency responders and police departments priority access to the network during the parade through its T-Priority service. This means that even if regular customers are maxing out the system, first responders can still make calls and send data. T-Mobile has also positioned dedicated technical teams throughout Seattle and is staging backup mobile cell sites, just in case the main network gets overwhelmed. They’re even bringing in satellite connectivity equipment as a last resort.
For fans planning to show up and share the celebration on social media, this preparation means your posts, photos, and videos should go through without frustrating delays. While T-Mobile isn’t guaranteeing zero slowdowns during peak moments, they’re doing everything they can to make sure everyone stays connected to the biggest moment in Seattle sports this year.