A common theme on LSU game days this season besides food, fun and football was tricky cell phone reception.”It’s dangerous [to not be able to make calls] because there were so many people [on campus tailgating],” said undecided freshman Katelyn Org of her experience when Florida and an estimated 150,000 people visited campus on Oct. 10.But Sue Sperry, AT&T Louisiana spokeswoman, said AT&T will continue to increase capacity, improve technology and spread the demand for cell phone service around the Baton Rouge area.Peter Davidson, director of energy services at the Office of Facility Services, said AT&T has seven cell sites on campus at Kirby-Smith Hall, Middleton Library, the Life Sciences building, Herget Hall, Patrick F. Taylor Hall and two on the east side of Tiger Stadium. Davidson said Verizon Wireless has three cell sites on campus at Tiger Stadium, Kirby-Smith Hall and LSU AgCenter’s John M. Parker Coliseum. Sperry said AT&T’s goal this past semester was to increase cell phone capacity during LSU home football games. She said AT&T installed 3G capacity to existing cell sites on campus in addition to the Cell On Wheels — or COWs — in the parking lot by the stadium to help cell phone service during game days. She said AT&T added more cell sites around the Baton Rouge area as well.For next year, Sperry said AT&T is working to add the ability to spread capacity around by adding a second layer of capacity with the existing cell sites.”That’s the technology needed when you have a situation at a big university like LSU, at the [Louisiana] Superdome or the [New Orleans] Arena,” Sperry said. “When you have so much demand at one time, you need to install technology and spread it around. That’s the number one issue we have on game day. Everyone is trying to call or text at the same time, and one cell site can’t handle that.”Sperry said the second layer of capacity will share the volume of phone calls among more cell sites around the Baton Rouge area, so customers don’t experience call blocking. “Phones are mobile computers, and they need a lot of bandwidth to function as they’re supposed to,” Sperry said. “That’s why technology projects are going on that are not adding more sites but taking [existing] sites and making them more powerful. That’s where we’re heading with campus technology improvement.”Sperry said extending the AT&T network is an ongoing process with the popularity of cell phones. “Every year there’s a plan for enhancement,” she said. “Last year, we expanded 3G capacity, and now it’s a matter of increasing the spectrum.”
 
 
 
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