Any Telecom Improvement for 2013?

[CarlOrton]

Not that it's going to make any diff to me attending this year, but I was just curious if anything has been done differently for 2013 WRT cell coverage.

In years past, I could have 5 bars of service, attempt to call my wife (on the grounds, also an AT&T user), and never be able to reach her. It seems that AT&T to AT&T just won't connect, but AT&T to other providers work just fine. AT&T from the grounds back to the dorms works just fine, though.

It got to the point where I'd call my neighbor (Sprint user), then he'd call my wife and relay the message.

Even txts would take 1/2 hr or more to get thru the system - not good when you're trying to set up a lunch connection.

[Wrongway Feldman]

Every year they set up mobile wireless cell towers all over the AirVenture grounds.
The problem with telephone systems, (wireless or landline wired) is they can not
handle the capacity if everyone calls at once.
Remember ever hearing this on landlines "All Circuits Busy" Or a "Fast Busy"
That means over capacity.
On a wireless telephone system the call just dumps or keeps seaching for a connection until one becomes free.
When you make a wireless call to wireless call, it eventually turns into a wired call then back to a wireless call.
It just is not feasible to build a system that will handle everyone at the same time.
The other problem is bandwidth, the pipe is just not big enough to carry the load of the calls, a bottle neck occurs.

EAA AirVenture grounds, call connection would be greatly enhanced by the implementation of fiber optic cabling
to show center, then branch out from there.
Everything would work better internet, mobile wireless cell towers and wired telephones.
The location of AirVenture is just to far from suburbia for the local telephone company to make the investment.
EAA would have to flip the bill.

[Bill]

It would be difficult to imagine the local phone company being able to justify spending the bucks to boost the bandwidth at AirVenture for one or two weeks out of fifty-two weeks to handle the AirVenture loading when the other weeks of the year would see the bandwidth severely underutilized. AirVenture is an anomaly to a year-round communications system.

[Check 6]

I won't arrive until Sunday, but my colleagues are there and they have been unable to make cell voice calls at the airport on AT&T Thursday, Friday, and today. Their phones work fine off the airport.

Maybe the portable sites aren't turned on yet?

[FlyingRon]

AT&T was crappy earlier but I'm right now standing on the flight line reading the forum.

[CarlOrton]

Ron, ya beat me to it.

I just want to thank whomever for doing whatever to improve the AT&T service on the field. Not 100% perfect, but an acceptable level. I've been able to make voice calls, txts, and data with very very few problems.

WiFi has also been quite good this year; seemed to have been better earlier in the week. The last 2 days (Weds/Thurs), it gives me the prompt to connect, but then says "unable" before even getting to the accept screen.

Regardless, thank you, Thank You.

[Gil]

No luck getting WIFI in the North 40 even a hundred feet from a WIFI hotspot. The laptop and iPad both said there was a wireless network available, but could not connect. We gave up after multiple attempts.

[turbopilot]

My experience has been slighty different. I have both Verizon LTE and ATT LTE devices here at AirVenture. Both ATT 4G and Verizon LTE work "OK" before noon but quickly degrade through the afternoon and evening to the point of being unusable for data and voice.

However, I found that ATT LTE (which is live at AirVenture) runs very fast 24/7. They must have hooked up ATT LTE to a different pipe locally because it works great.

[Jim Hann]

No major issues with AT&T 4G/LTE or cell service. Did not make calls intragrounds like I tried last year so I can't speak to that. Also didn't use the wifi because I was too lazy to go to one of the hotspots in Scholler.

[Bob Meder]

No major issues with AT&T 4G/LTE or cell service. Did not make calls intragrounds like I tried last year so I can't speak to that. Also didn't use the wifi because I was too lazy to go to one of the hotspots in Scholler.

Only two or three dropped or missed calls using the above service. I do wish that ATT has better coverage on the west side of town where we rent a house. Fortunately, the Skype app and our wifi at the house covered that (although my wife did wonder about the strange ANI's at first).

[Jim Hann]

Only two or three dropped or missed calls using the above service. I do wish that ATT has better coverage on the west side of town where we rent a house. Fortunately, the Skype app and our wifi at the house covered that (although my wife did wonder about the strange ANI's at first).

Bob, if you have a Skype out subscription (or maybe even if you don't) you can put your phone number in for the caller ID. You might have to do it from the computer software, not sure because I did it a long time ago. Folks on the other end won't know the difference. I use Skype a lot from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe when I'm working and it helps keep people from ignoring my calls.

[Bob Meder]

Ah, thanks. We're grandfathered under the original AT&T unlimited plan, so I use Skype only for video conferences on my PC or as a fallback on the cell phone, so I never bothered to look.

One neat thing about Skype is that it connects nicely to the WiFi on the business cars (in my non-aviation job), which then goes to the satellite link used to connect to our host systems. Cell coverage in rural areas along the right-of-way can be spotty, at best.

[Jim Hann]

Ah, thanks. We're grandfathered under the original AT&T unlimited plan, so I use Skype only for video conferences on my PC or as a fallback on the cell phone, so I never bothered to look.

One neat thing about Skype is that it connects nicely to the WiFi on the business cars (in my non-aviation job), which then goes to the satellite link used to connect to our host systems. Cell coverage in rural areas along the right-of-way can be spotty, at best.
I am also on the unlimited AT&T on my phone, won't give it up! Sounds like a neat setup for good comm coverage at work.

OT question, what airport do you frequent in STL? I'm split between SET and 1H0 right now working on the Pacer.

Jim

[Bob Meder]

You can find me floating around at 1H0/KSET/KSUS. When I'm at 1H0, you'll probably see me over by John's Stearman (near the runway, by the trailer).