Mobile phone companies will be challenged Tuesday to keep voice and data transmissions flowing as hundreds of thousands of Super Bowl celebrants descend on downtown Denver.
On a typical day, wireless services can be interrupted by equipment malfunctions, construction mishaps and sheer volume.
Thousands of users in the same proximity attempting to share photos and videos will strain the system and is likely to overload it.
“Our network team is working as quickly as possible to add capacity to our network for Tuesday,” said Meagan Dorsch, a Verizon spokeswoman in Denver.
Given a short time frame to prepare, as well as the expected size of the crowd, network crews “will prepare as best they can” to meet the unusual demand, Dorsch said.
AT&T has invested $325 million in its Denver area wireless networks in the past three years, AT&T corporate communications spokeswoman Suzanne Trantow wrote in an e-mail Monday.
Still, the Super Bowl parade is expected to tie up more than just automobile traffic Tuesday.
“We optimized our network as much as possible in advance of the victory parade and the anticipated crowds, but when hundreds of thousands of people in a limited geographic area access wireless networks, potentially at the same time, issues can occur,” Trantow wrote. “We are closely monitoring our network.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or @kierannicholson
