This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Local Voices

AT&T Bringing More Mobile Coverage to the Quicken Loans National Course

This week at the Quicken Loans National golf tournament in Bethesda, AT&T is pulling a specialty set of service clubs out of its bag when it deploys two Cells on Wheels (COWs), more than 60 Wi-Fi antennas and a solar powered mobile charging station to keep attendees connected.

Each year tens of thousands of people flock to the tournament, essentially forming a small city for just a few days. But mobile networks aren't typically equipped to handle the sudden deluge of mobile traffic these temporary “cities” generate during tournament week with nearby cell towers alone, so AT&T went to its bag to bring some extra network muscle.

 The COWs and Wi-Fi work in perfect tandem, like a driver and putter, to help cover fans’ connectivity needs on the course. The COWs provide enhanced cellular coverage via additional coverage and improved reliability for calls and texts, and the Wi-Fi antenna deployment offers additional data capacity. These temporary technology deployments help make it easier for golf enthusiasts to share their experience from the course via text, tweets, photos, videos and more.

Find out what's happening in Kensingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Wi-Fi antennas and COWs will be strategically located throughout the golf course to enhance coverage in areas with the heaviest usage of the mobile network. 

In addition, if attendees wear their batteries down from chatting and taking lots of photos, AT&T has deployed a solar-powered mobile charging station, allowing customers of any carrier to charge their devices from the course.

Find out what's happening in Kensingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?