Whether you are from Los Angeles, California, or from Cincinnati, Ohio, or just an average football fan, everyone wants to know how their team will perform at the Super Bowl. But the fans and players are not the only teams at the game with interest in the outcome at SoFi stadium. Teams from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile will be in Los Angeles making sure their networks are ready to handle the expected surge in traffic in and around the stadium. What these network operations and engineering teams really want to know about is how their 5G networks perform before, during, and after the game. These mobile operators have spent a lot of time and money getting 5G ready, and it’s almost game time!
We know that more mobile data will be processed than at previous games, so the question remains: How will 5G technology change the game for mobile communications at this year's Super Bowl?
These mobile operator teams will employ continuous performance monitoring solutions with advanced analytics to gain visibility and insights into the traffic to understand how their networks are performing, proactively manage any service degradations, and analyze how applications and services are being consumed to determine the end-user experience.
How are the new 5G handsets performing? What is the user experience like on 5G versus 4G? Mobile operators will be looking at the new Apple iPhone 13 as well as at smartphones by Samsung, Motorola, and others. The smartphone performance outcomes may impact what brands and models they sell and service going forward.
Although we expect fans will be watching the Super Bowl, we know that they also will be looking at videos on their smartphones during the game and not just at replays. Attendees at the game will be looking at and posting videos on YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook. Again, the engineering and operations teams will want to know the following: What is the video quality for these and other applications? And which phones and applications provided the best and worst experience?
The big social media apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook are expected to have the most traffic in that market segment, but what other social media apps will emerge in the top 10? Inquiring minds want to know.
And for the 5G network infrastructure, engineering teams will want to know how the different 5G New Radio (NR) interfaces performed, as well as the different 5G Core elements responsible for the setup of voice, video, and data sessions; authentication; mobility; and more.
Gaining these valuable insights comes from having visibility to all of the traffic, all of the time. NETSCOUT will be providing visibility without borders and smart data at the game and the surrounding area to provide actionable intelligence to help get the most out of 5G technology.