This year’s “Run for the Roses” ended up being a run for the records on our mobile network.
Fans set a new record for peak data usage at an event by using more than 815 Gigabytes (GB)* in a single hour.
Our network team was quick out of the gates ahead of the Derby to improve the network experience. For the fourth year in a row, we worked with Mobilitie to meet booming data demand at the Kentucky Derby. This year we boosted our overall capacity on the venue's antenna system by nearly 50% to deliver a triple-crown worthy network experience.
Data usage on AT&T’s venue-specific wireless network at Churchill Downs, COWs (Cells on Wheels) and nearby cell sites used for the Kentucky Derby was more than 6.7 Terabytes.*
- This is equal to more than 19.2 million Derby Day Selfies.
- That’s a 31% increase in data usage compared to last year.
- Even more, data usage has grown 430% over the last 4 years.
The event set the record for most data used in a specific hour on an AT&T venue-specific mobile network.
- Data traffic peaked at 815 GB from 6pm-7pm EST.
- This is the hour in which the Kentucky Derby post time occurred.
- 815 GB is equal to streaming the Derby race on your phone in HD 27,783 times.
Data traffic from both Friday’s Kentucky Oaks and Saturday’s Kentucky Derby races came in at a whopping 11.4 Terabytes.
Big events mark the summer calendar - both on and off the tracks. We'll continue to up our network experience when and where our customers need it most. And I'm sure we'll see more records fall!
*Data usage consists of total data used by AT&T customers only on the AT&T venue-specific Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at Churchill Downs, as well as AT&T’s Cell on Wheels (COW) and nearby cell sites used for the Kentucky Derby.
Bill Smith - President - AT&T Network Operations, AT&T Services Inc