Vodacom’s smart stadium Wi-Fi in final testing

Vodacom’s high-density Wi-Fi network at the Blue Bulls’ Loftus Versveld stadium will hold its last round of free testing on 13 June when the home team takes on the Cheetahs.

The broadband solution aims to make Loftus a “smart stadium”, and will provide spectators with fast data connectivity.

Vodacom has installed over 40km of fibre and more than 400 Wi-Fi access points at the stadium, and implemented Extensible Authentication Protocol technology.

This enables a seamless switch between 4G, 3G, 2G, and Wi-Fi, meaning that a device will connect to whichever bearer has the best connection. It also means that during a Wi-Fi data session it will still be possible to receive voice calls.

When the system is commercially launched, data used over the Wi-Fi connection will be drawn directly from a Vodacom customer’s existing data allocation.

Non-Vodacom customers will be able to buy Wi-Fi bundles to gain access.

The system is set to be commercially launched after the upcoming round of testing is completed. The first round of testing was conducted on 2 May, with both Vodacom and MyBroadband running speed tests.

Vodacom test

Vodacom test

MyBroadband test

MyBroadband’s test was conducted during a Lions vs Bulls game, when the service would have had the most simultaneous users.

Loftus – Speedtest

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