40 replies to this topic

[mabrowndog]

I had no idea the team already had an in-stadium network. I know next to nothing about the technology involved, but it'll be interesting to see how they integrate this with any proprietary content and marketing opportunities.

Mobile Sports Report.com

Wireless network gear provider Meru Networks has scored a big hit in the connected-stadium race by inking a deal with the Boston Red Sox to build out a Wi-Fi network inside of historic Fenway Park.

While Meru actually worked with the BoSox to install a prototype network before last baseball season, the new deal will officially tap the upstart gear vendor as the offical supplier of a full-bore Wi-Fi network designed to address the mobile broadband needs of the 37,000-plus fans who might file in on game days.

In a designed-for-an-IT-audience press release quote, the Red Sox's IT director waxes poetically about Meru's capabilities:

"The sheer number of devices trying to access the network was dizzying – and that number has continued to grow," said Steve Conley, IT Director, Boston Red Sox. "Our old network simply wasn't capable of handling the influx of devices or meeting the demand for high-performance connectivity. Meru brought stability, reliability and simplicity to our wireless infrastructure. We can now not only tune the network for optimal performance and avoid outages, we can also scale to meet network demands and reduce management costs."

Meru press release

Meru's networks are designed to provide unparalleled reliability, quality of service, operational ease and uncompromised wireless connectivity for a rich, interactive fan experience and improved concession sales at Fenway. Meru and Ayacht Technologies began the large-scale replacement of the park's legacy wireless infrastructure with Meru WLAN solutions prior to opening day in 2011; the first phase of the implementation was finalized and implemented within the two weeks.

Located in the middle of the heavily populated city of Boston, the Fenway wireless network is constantly bombarded with interference from the surrounding areas. TV and radio broadcasters clamber for network access during each game, and flash crowds of up to 37,000 fans use a variety of wireless devices to enjoy an interactive baseball experience.

"Sports and entertainment powerhouses like the Red Sox increasingly turn to Meru for high-capacity, uncompromising wireless infrastructure to improve customer experience and business results," said Ihab Abu-Hakima, CEO of Meru Networks. "As mobile devices proliferate, legacy wireless systems are often unable to meet the connectivity demands of thousands of wireless devices hitting the network simultaneously. Meru's next-generation wireless LAN solutions offer a proven technology approach to WLAN, specifically designed to accommodate the increasing demands of device density and diversity."

[Yaz4Ever]

Good. There aren't enough douchebags behind home plate playing with their phones instead of watching the game. Hooray technology.

[Lose Remerswaal]

Interesting. I have a friend who works for AT&T Wireless -- ran into him at a game last summer, he was walking around with electronic equipment as they had just upgraded their facility at the stadium, and connections were supposed to be much, much easier after this upgrade.

Guess it wasn't enough.

[Max Power]

Interesting. I have a friend who works for AT&T Wireless -- ran into him at a game last summer, he was walking around with electronic equipment as they had just upgraded their facility at the stadium, and connections were supposed to be much, much easier after this upgrade.

Guess it wasn't enough.

It was definitely an upgrade. Prior to the middle of last season I could have a full signal and zero throughput, either data or calls and texts. Since they upgraded I never have trouble with calls and the data is slow, but usable. I'm interested to see what kind of performance thousands of wifi devices are able to achieve.

[geoduck no quahog]

Fuck.

(could be my most intelligent post of the season)

[pk1627]

Good. There aren't enough douchebags behind home plate playing with their phones instead of watching the game. Hooray technology.

Why should the douchebags watching the game at home be the only ones with access to stats, replay, and out of town scores?

[mabrowndog]

Why should the douchebags watching the game at home be the only ones with access to stats, replay, and out of town scores?

I think he was referring to the subset of douchebags who, instead of watching the game, spend their time tweeting, chatting on Facebook, and calling their friends while pitches are being thrown so they can wave at the TV cameras like idiotic spazzes.

[Nuf Ced]

Good. There aren't enough douchebags behind home plate playing with their phones instead of watching the game. Hooray technology.

Aside from those who are intrusive with their smartphone conversations, there are some fans who would like faster updates to scores than the left-field scoreboard. And I think WiFi access at Fenway would be cool if the team is playing on trade deadline day.

As for irritating people who ignore the game completely while using their phones, it's been an unfortunate fact of life for years now and unlikely to discontinue. You can ask fans politely to be considerate, but you can't force them to be, which means you're better off ignoring them and concentrating on the game if possible.

[alannathan]

I think he was referring to the subset of douchebags who, instead of watching the game, spend their time tweeting, chatting on Facebook, and calling their friends while pitches are being thrown so they can wave at the TV cameras like idiotic spazzes.

One particularly good use of the internet during a game is to go to brooksbaseball.net and get instant pitchf/x info on the game you are watching.

[Nuf Ced]

There's some pretty good baseball scorekeeping apps out there too like iScore.

[TomRicardo]

I think he was referring to the subset of douchebags who, instead of watching the game, spend their time tweeting, chatting on Facebook, and calling their friends while pitches are being thrown so they can wave at the TV cameras like idiotic spazzes.

Someone has to pay Lackey's salary.

[Dropkick Izzy]

Good. There aren't enough douchebags behind home plate playing with their phones instead of watching the game. Hooray technology.

With the way the on-field product has been as of late, we need all the distractions we can get.

[Rough Carrigan]

Good. There aren't enough douchebags behind home plate playing with their phones instead of watching the game. Hooray technology.

Amen.
Only it's not just cretins behind the plate. The last couple years I think I've had someone nearby just about every game, all over the grandstands, who looked at his or her phone >50% of the time and watched the game a minority of the time.

[Rough Carrigan]

Aside from those who are intrusive with their smartphone conversations, there are some fans who would like faster updates to scores than the left-field scoreboard. And I think WiFi access at Fenway would be cool if the team is playing on trade deadline day.

As for irritating people who ignore the game completely while using their phones, it's been an unfortunate fact of life for years now and unlikely to discontinue. You can ask fans politely to be considerate, but you can't force them to be, which means you're better off ignoring them and concentrating on the game if possible.

They're not being directly inconsiderate to anyone actually watching the game while . . at the game. They're just pathetic to see the way they're absolutely terrified of being alone with their thoughts. Maybe they don't have any.

Edited by Rough Carrigan, 21 December 2011 - 10:54 AM.

[maufman]

I don't understand computer security, but isn't logging on to a public wireless network at Fenway Park the digital equivalent of having unprotected sex with a crack whore?

[Oil Can Dan]

They're not being directly inconsiderate to anyone actually watching the game while . . at the game. They're just pathetic to see the way they're absolutely terrified of being alone with their thoughts. Maybe they don't have any.

Yeah, that or they have lives that continue to roll along even though the Boston Red Sox are playing a baseball game.

Speaking as a guy that likes to attend as many day games during the week as possible I welcome the ability to access corporate email while at Fenway. It always struck me as a bit ridiculous that entering Fenway on a Wednesday at 1pm was akin to entering a technological black hole.

[Infield Infidel]

Amen.
Only it's not just cretins behind the plate. The last couple years I think I've had someone nearby just about every game, all over the grandstands, who looked at his or her phone >50% of the time and watched the game a minority of the time.

So you are complaining about people ignoring the game, while you are ignoring the game because you are paying attention to them.

Edited by Infield Infidel, 21 December 2011 - 11:48 AM.

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

So you are complaining about people ignoring the game, while you are ignoring the game because you are paying attention to them.

Really? How is the way that someone else is enjoying the game is hindering the way you enjoy the game? If a person wants to pay $80 for a ticket and stare at their iPhone for three hours, who gives a shit?

The people who complain about the way some folks watch a baseball game has gotten to the point where they're more annoying than the people who "don't watch the game the right way".

[Rough Carrigan]

So you are complaining about people ignoring the game, while you are ignoring the game because you are paying attention to them.

You can't help but notice the guy in your line of sight who's constantly thumbing away at his blackberry keyboard the whole game long. It's not a matter of focusing on them. They're part of the visual background. Or it's the woman next to you whom you have to nudge every time somebody's coming down the aisle and is going to cross in front of both of you to get to his seat because she's looking at her phone to the exclusion of everything else and has no recognition of people around her.

Edited by Rough Carrigan, 21 December 2011 - 12:15 PM.

[JimBoSox9]

I don't understand computer security, but isn't logging on to a public wireless network at Fenway Park the digital equivalent of having unprotected sex with a crack whore?

Assuming this company isn't bringing new tech to the table, the two options for public wifi are to not encrypt traffic and have no password, or encrypt traffic with a shared universal password. For your question, it doesn't matter in the slightest which option they use - they're equally unsecured to anyone who knows the password.

It's not quite as bad as your analogy.

-Unless you're running a file-sharing app, anything stored on your device should be safe. Most computers and devices default to not allow sharing.
-Any website you log into via an app or browser that supports HTTPS protocol is safe (it's key to understand that on the back end, apps and browsers are mostly identical, it's all a series of http(s) transactions via apis). The vast majority of sites use HTTPS for at least login. Easy to tell if you just go to the login page in the browser. If https is forced for the browser, it's a safe assumption that their app will use https for authentication as well.
-Any website you interact with that doesn't have a login isn't passing any information worth stealing.

-if you log into a website that isn't using HTTPS (hello, SoSH!), you just gave away your password to anyone who cares to look. As long as the passwords you use for unsecured sites is different than the password you use for secured sites (which is a definite best practice), the worse-case scenario is that someone co-opts your message board account for fun. Unrelated question - what dates will you be attending games at Fenway this year?

Hope that all makes sense.

[YTF]

Good, now the fat fuck squeezed into his undersized seat next to me can plant his elbow firmly in my ribs while typing away in his laptop.

[absintheofmalaise]

It sounds like there are people here that need to read this book. I've recommended it before. It was recommended to me a great number of times by a great number of people (some of them on SoSH) and I finally went ahead and read it. I think it may contain plenty of lessons for everyone.

[zenter]

It sounds like there are people here that need to read this book. I've recommended it before. It was recommended to me a great number of times by a great number of people (some of them on SoSH) and I finally went ahead and read it. I think it may contain plenty of lessons for everyone.

It's the book I read on my iPhone when sitting behind home plate, that's for sure.

[OttoC]

It's the book I read on my iPhone when sitting behind home plate, that's for sure.

If enough people buy the book, would that convince Remy that his true metier is at the keyboard and not behind the mike?

[RGREELEY33]

They're not being directly inconsiderate to anyone actually watching the game while . . at the game. They're just pathetic to see the way they're absolutely terrified of being alone with their thoughts. Maybe they don't have any.

I'm nodding my head in agreement with this - as I have lunch at Sonny Mcleans and type on my IPad whilst ignoring the other 4 people here. <sigh>

[MoVaughnsTruck]

I don't understand computer security, but isn't logging on to a public wireless network at Fenway Park the digital equivalent of having unprotected sex with a crack whore?

And almost as much fun.

WiFi is WiFi. As long as you don't point your browser to viruscentral.com you're OK.

[geoduck no quahog]

Baseball fans should be romantics.

There's no other game like it. I go to ballparks and see people keeping score (with pencils and paper), or talking to friends between pitches as the game floats by at its unique pace.

The aesthetics of the game include doing other things in the pauses between action, and if tweeting or downloading porn is done in that manner - I think the aesthetics are maintained.

What many of us resent is when distractions are the norm and attention is the exception. Maybe our generational attention span has shortened so much that the traditional pace of baseball is no longer acceptable.

I doubt this is an issue in faster sports like football or basketball.

On the other hand, bring me to a soccer match and I could spend the entire game doing my taxes on Quicken and consider it a good use of my time.

On the third hand...how do you key in data when you're shitfaced on 7 between-inning beers?

[mrsbeasley]

With the way Sox tickets get sold and the scarcity of getting good seats together, most of the games I attend I get a single seat. Usually one or more friends are also at the same game, in single seats in different parts of the park. We use our phones to comment on the game the same way people sitting together would. I also text with friends who aren't at the game but are watching it. It isn't perfect, but it works and it makes me feel like I'm sitting at the game with my friends.

I realize after typing that out how nerdy it sounds but it's true. Just like it has when I'm watching at home, technology has improved my game experience and as long as someone isn't standing up in front of me to wave at the cameras, I'll enjoy having better service at the park.

[biollante]

I would like it if they turned the sound down.
I don't care one way or another about wifi.

Fenway has too much artificial sound being pumped in. I can't hear the game like I used to, voices, ball caught in glove, ball hitting bat etc. Now I hear a snippet of music for every player that comes to the plate - really, do I need to hear that, I don't think so. And the endless drone of music before the game bothers me. Yeah, I must be too old but maybe there is some team out there that isn't so focused on baseball being some sort of "entertainment" continuum.

Wifi - isn't really intrusive. Nerds will be nerds with or without wifi.

[Lose Remerswaal]

I would like it if they turned the sound down.
I don't care one way or another about wifi.

Fenway has too much artificial sound being pumped in. I can't hear the game like I used to, voices, ball caught in glove, ball hitting bat etc. Now I hear a snippet of music for every player that comes to the plate - really, do I need to hear that, I don't think so. And the endless drone of music before the game bothers me. Yeah, I must be too old but maybe there is some team out there that isn't so focused on baseball being some sort of "entertainment" continuum.

Go to a college or High School game.

[Toe Nash]

Go to a college or High School game.

Yeah. Fenway is one of the quietest stadiums in MLB (other than fan noise).

[mabrowndog]

Every park in the idyllic, romanticized Cape League blares music from the speakers -- pre-game, between innings, personal tracks for each batter.

And now that we've exhausted this little thread hijacking, let's get back to discussing the pros & cons of the Fenway WiFi upgrade.

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

Do they allow iPads in the bullpens? If so, will Jenks remember to clear his browser history before the seventh inning?

[Blacken]

WiFi is WiFi. As long as you don't point your browser to viruscentral.com you're OK.

This is wrong. There's a long history of attacks against naively configured computers that don't require user interaction.

[mauidano]

Good. There aren't enough douchebags behind home plate playing with their phones instead of watching the game. Hooray technology.

Perfectly put! Literally Laughed out loud at this.

[Rasputin]

I would like it if they turned the sound down.

Go to Yankee Stadium. I was astonished at the incessant barrage on the senses. It made it a ridiculously unpleasant place to watch a game.

[Hee-Seop's Fable]

Just caught Derrick Hall, CEO of the Diamondbacks, interviewed on Baseball Confidential. They are providing content via their souped up in park wifi network not available elsewhere. Advanced stats, replays, et. al. He didn't expand on how they limit the availability of the content, but one has to think the Sox won't be very far behind with the same kind of approach.

AZCentral.com story

Sure there may be downside to putting that kind of power in entitletards hands, but for the majority of people it is a pretty cool perk to add to the ballpark experience.

[YTF]

Just caught Derrick Hall, CEO of the Diamondbacks, interviewed on Baseball Confidential. They are providing content via their souped up in park wifi network not available elsewhere. Advanced stats, replays, et. al. He didn't expand on how they limit the availability of the content, but one has to think the Sox won't be very far behind with the same kind of approach.

AZCentral.com story

Sure there may be downside to putting that kind of power in entitletards hands, but for the majority of people it is a pretty cool perk to add to the ballpark experience.

So why not just integrate that stuff into the stadium's scoreboard for EVERYONE to "enjoy". I know the reason for not showing most replays on stadium scoreboards has been to deter fan outrage over close or controversial calls, but this undermines that idea.

[Omar's Wacky Neighbor]

Go to Yankee Stadium. I was astonished at the incessant barrage on the senses. It made it a ridiculously unpleasant place to watch a game.

Same here. Attended our first game at Le Toilette Nouveau this past Sept., and was quite surprised on how it just does not stop. All that was missing was condiment races and rounding the bases after spinning 'round the bat ten times.

[Hee-Seop's Fable]

So why not just integrate that stuff into the stadium's scoreboard for EVERYONE to "enjoy". I know the reason for not showing most replays on stadium scoreboards has been to deter fan outrage over close or controversial calls, but this undermines that idea.

The show moves fast, so the mention was brief and sketchy; he didn't distinguish much. He did tout their huge high def. scoreboard loaded with 'advanced' stats. And the article I was able to google up after the fact devotes a lot more space to the advanced concession ordering options. I guess we'll have to see how they divvy up the services between the two. This link makes it sound like it's analogous to 'on demand' features via wifi vs. the 'here and now' on the scoreboard.

MLB-Diamondbacks info page

The Digital D-backs Wi-Fi portal offers fans:
Up-to-the moment box scores and game summaries
On-demand video replays
Chase Field information, history and tours
Instructions on how to text Security to report any ballpark or guest behavior issues
Fan captions for closed captioning of every public address announcement for hearing-impaired fans
Listings of the nearest concession stands
Complete D-backs roster information, regular-season schedule and current standings
Ticket and promotion information for upcoming games at Chase Field

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised the Sox are in a following role here, and not more on the cutting edge, especially with how much of a priority Fenway upgrades have been during the current ownership. It wouldn't be good for that kind of thing to become a habit...

[notfar]

I've wanted more information about stuff that happened in the game about a thousand times and could never get on the internet. This is only good news. The people tapping on their phones weren't going to pay attention to the game anyway, how does this change anything? It would be sick if it was upgraded enough so I could get radio over WiFi; the delay would make it like Tivo, a real life 10s rewind for those 'what the fuck just happened?' moments.