Filed under: Gaming, Freeware, Internet, Apple, iPhone, sxsw
AT&T plans for SXSW 2010
Happy March! The super hip and trendy South-by-Southwest music and tech festival is coming up this month, and like many tech conventions these days, AT&T is working on a plan to keep their network up and running as thousands of iPhones descend on Austin, Texas to send around voice, texts, and data. GigaOM has a little insight into how they're planning to do it this year, and if you're interested in the nuts-and-bolts of keeping a cell phone network up and running (or at least trying to -- this is AT&T, after all), it's worth a read. They're beefing up the cell towers in the city's vicinity, setting up a whole new system around the convention center itself, and putting money into the backend as well, to try and increase bandwidth coming into the region. I don't know if they've done anything like this before (I can't really judge with Macworld -- while my iPhone worked fine most of the time, I still only have a 1G, and I was using Sprint MiFi on my Macbook most of the time), but it sounds like a pretty comprehensive setup.
Of course, the other reason AT&T is pushing to get ready for SXSW is that the convention has become sort of an unofficial testing ground for the next big social apps. A few years ago, Twitter made its first big push around SXSW, and last year, Foursquare was the app to use (which has since spawned a brand new genre of app, the "check-in" network). So what's going to be the app pushing data through the AT&T network this year? The buzz so far is around Twitter's coming ad platform, though it's hard to think that an ad platform could be a killer app. My money's on some sort of location-based social game -- while Foursquare has gaming elements, I think an app like MyTown could take the concept even farther, and we still haven't really seen an actual GPS-based RPG or MMO break out. Even those of us who aren't at SXSW this year will be paying attention to what people are doing on their iPhones there, because odds are good that the app that clicks with attendees there will be what we're all playing with in a few months.



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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ADT2 said 9:31PM on 3-01-2010
Don't hold your breath for stellar AT&T service in Austin. My father and I attend every UT home football game in the fall; he uses a Blackberry on the Verizon network, and I use an iPhone 3g. I am literally unable to make a phone call, send a text message, or use any of the other apps that require a data connection (browse the internet, use ESPN mobile, get email, etc.) while inside the stadium. We have to use my dad's Verizon phone to keep up with other games going on.
You would think AT&T would have better coverage around one of the largest universities in the country; seems like they'd realize there would be a high concentration of cell phones in the area, but apparently that's lost on AT&T.
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Brandon said 5:34PM on 3-02-2010
Every home game? Interesting, considering AT&T installed new receivers at DKR about midway through this past season. Huge difference. Actually works. But then again, nobody should expect perfect service when there are 100,000+ people in the same space together.
Dan Diemer said 10:39PM on 3-01-2010
I've got a novel idea: how about AT&T fixes the tower by my house that's been out of commission for a month so I can have service in my living room, then move on to Austin. :|
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Keaton said 1:05AM on 3-02-2010
SXSW and ACL have always been a time of terrible cell coverage. It's great to hear we might actually get to tweet from the shows this year!
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ADT2 said 7:04PM on 3-02-2010
Yep. I'm in the upper deck, section 108, and I get the wi-fi network on my "connections" screen, but I am unable to actually use said network (or any other (3G, Edge, seance, whatever)) until about midway through the 3rd quarter, when the fans typically start heading back out to tailgate. Extremely frustrating.
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Jon Stirling said 1:31AM on 3-05-2010
Check out hear-it-live.com. We are incorporating Microsoft tag into artist handouts, and providing a 'local music radar' service where you can find, hear and get directions to the show. We also provide hooks for artist to sell iTunes and zazzle.com products. Look for our colorful bardcode handouts around the show.
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