Expanded Wi-Fi to kick off at ’Shoe
Completion date is Oct. 4, but stadium-wide Wi-Fi is expected for season opener
Texting with friends and family and posting on social media inside Ohio Stadium is about to become a reality for more than 100,000 fans. The project to improve high-density wireless connectivity is expected to be completed in time for the season-opening game Aug. 31 against Florida Atlantic.
“The contractors working on behalf of the Department of Athletics and the Office of the Chief Information Officer have worked above and beyond to get us to this point of having stadium-wide Wi-Fi in time for the first game,” said Jim Null, senior associate athletics director/chief information officer. “The first game will set a baseline for Wi-Fi that will help us make adjustments and fine-tune performance for each subsequent game.”
Workers will have pulled 47 miles of copper and fiber wire throughout Ohio Stadium when the project is completed. The wire leads to more than 2,000 access points and 4,018 antennas to keep fans connected.
All that equipment is seamlessly placed to blend in and not disrupt the iconic integrity of Ohio Stadium.
The $10.5 million project, which includes work to expand Wi-Fi connectivity in the Jerome Schottenstein Center in time for the start of the basketball seasons this fall, is part of a larger, $18.6 million campus-wide project that was approved by the Board of Trustees in April 2018.
The expansion project includes the installation of more than 23,000 access points across the state in over 500 buildings and 180 outdoor spaces, providing mobile access to teaching, learning and research resources across all campuses and extension offices.
Information on connecting to the wireless networks at Ohio Stadium will be announced next week.
