Free Wi-Fi Now Available at Scottrade Center
by Matt Gardner / St. Louis Blues
In a popular commercial from a national retailer, a teenage girl is shown struggling to hold back her excitement when she learns she can now “pin, post, tweet, snap, tag, check-in and share” thanks to her family getting unlimited data.
All of the above – and then some – is now much easier to do at Scottrade Center.
As part of a continued effort to improve the fan experience at a Blues game, concert or any other event at Scottrade Center, a robust Wi-Fi system is now available to all fans.
Fans can access the system for free by selecting STC_Public as their Wi-Fi network.
“We’re excited to offer free Wi-Fi to all of our guests that visit us at Scottrade Center,” said Chris Zimmerman, Blues President/CEO. “Along with improving how fans share experiences at our events through their mobile devices, the addition of Wi-Fi provides us the opportunity to explore new ways of delivering a better fan experience.”
A total of 259 wireless access points have been installed, including 237 that are dedicated for fan usage. Each level of the arena will be equipped to support more than 80 gigabytes of data per second.
Access points have been setup to accommodate fans in all locations of the building. There are 115 access points that cover the floor, lower bowl and Bommarito club seats, including 29 access points installed with the scoreboard.
Each suite will have coverage coming from no less than two access points. These access point stretch from event (ice) level, all the way to the top, including 34 access points installed on the catwalk.
The Blues partnered with St. Louis-based World Wide Technology on the Wi-Fi installation at Scottrade Center.
Fans will be greeted with a Wi-Fi splash page on their mobile device, very similar to the experience you may see at a hotel or other locations that offer public Wi-Fi. Users will simply be asked to agree to the terms of usage to connect to the Wi-Fi.
In addition to improving the fan experience, the rollout of Wi-Fi at Scottrade Center opens the door for potential future expansion of mobile and digital offers to fans that are popular in other venues, including mobile ticketing, geo-driven and beacon-driven messaging, food and retail ordering from your seat (where available), directions to concessions, retail and restrooms from your current location and more.
The addition of Wi-Fi at Scottrade Center follows the rollout of a DAS (Distributed Antenna System) in 2014. DAS works separately from Wi-Fi, using separate antennas located throughout the venue to boost network strength and capacity.
A few interesting notes about the installation:
•Each access point has a green light on it to indicate it is active. When a user connects to that access point, the light turns…yep, you guessed it – blue
•There is a total of eight miles of eight-strand network cable and two miles of 12-strand fiber used as part of the building-wide installation
•Total cabling used would be long enough to go around the entire I-270 loop 1.5 times
•The installation process – working around Blues games and other events at Scottrade Center and holidays – took more than 2,000 man hours over nearly three months