Can you video chat with 69,000 World Cup fans? I tested the stadium telephone service during a match

Every year, as the Super Bowl approaches, the big three carriers announce their latest improvements to ensure the stadium hosting the Big Game has enough high-speed network capacity to handle the hordes of fans in attendance with a smartphone in every pocket. But every year, some people complain about not being able to brag live because everyone was trying to send messages, photos and videos at the same time.

Just four months after this year’s Super Bowl, the game’s venue in Santa Clara, California, was transformed – its famous Levi’s logo obscured – to accommodate several FIFA World Cup games. For the Paraguay-Australia match on June 25, it was the fifth time in two weeks that the nearly 69,000-seat arena was filled with fans eager to watch the world’s biggest soccer tournament.

The games have drawn millions more eyes than the annual NFL championship, from viewers at home to thousands of people who come from around the world to watch them live — and who will all pick up their phones at the same time when their team sings the national anthem or scores a goal.

San Francisco Bay Stadium is not alone. This World Cup is being played for the first time in three countries – Canada, Mexico and the United States – so there is a good chance that the host stadiums will fail to provide sufficient cellular service to the tens of thousands of people who travel to matches each day.

I looked at what each operator did to improve their network before the World Cup in all 11 U.S. host stadiums and tested the Bay Area networks to see if they would withstand the strain on game day.

Networks put to the test during a World Cup match

While my eyes were glued to my beloved Socceroos for the entire match, I was also focused on how much of the match I could capture on my phone and send to my friends and family watching at home. Use a Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus on Verizon, a Motorola Razr connected to T-Mobile through Mint Mobile and a iPhone 17 Pro Max Connected to AT&T’s new Turbo Live offering, I and a few CNET colleagues conducted various network tests during the Paraguay vs. Australia match on June 25.

With 68,827 fans at the game, many with more than one device – we had six phones for three of us – that’s a lot of people trying to use the networks at the same time.

Sending photos and videos

Using my Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus on the Verizon network, I sent photos and videos to CNET Mobile editor David Lumb during the game. The photos arrived on his phone in seconds, while a 23-second video took just under a minute.

Several of us who were at the game also used RCS Messaging and WhatsApp to send each other photos we took together on Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. Everything was sent and delivered within a minute.

Video calls

FIFA’s tricky lottery system and resulting resale market have made World Cup tickets incredibly expensive, meaning there are probably a group of people you’d want to video call during the game if they couldn’t make it. I made several video calls throughout the match, including one in Sydney, Australia, just before the match started; one in Los Angeles at halftime; one towards Germany during the game; and one in Melbourne, Australia, at the end of the match.

With the exception of the call from Los Angeles (which we determined was due to poor cell phone reception in Los Angeles traffic rather than on my side at the stadium), all had crystal clear video. Hearing the audio of the calls over the roar of the crowd was another matter, but the Verizon network held up to video.

AT&T Turbo Live

The new one from AT&T TurboLive Service allows you to subscribe to a single pass that gives you priority access to a higher speed network during events and concerts. Using an iPhone 17 Pro Max, we signed up for Turbo Live, and CNET content director Patrick Holland recorded download speeds of 1,690 Mbps and upload speeds of 92.4 Mbps.

The super-fast download speed was more than double what I experienced on my Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus on Verizon, which maxed out at around 714 Mbps. Lead writer Abrar Al-Heeti recorded a speed test of just 3.77 Mbps using a Motorola Razr Fold with a Mint Mobile eSIM (an MVNO that uses the T-Mobile network), although Ookla noted that it was using the Frontier network at the time of the speed test.

However, setting up access to Turbo Live is a lengthy, multi-step process that took at least 10 minutes during gameplay – including searching for your event on the Turbo Live site to see if the service is available, checking your phone to see if you’re eligible, paying the one-time fee ($12 for the match we attended), enabling eSIM, setting your default line, and selecting eSIM as your primary network in your settings. This is a lengthy process that requires your full attention. So our main takeaway is that you pay for this and you set it up well in advance. We’ve seen events listed on the Turbo Live site in a few weeks.

Posting photos and videos on social media

Posting stories on Instagram was a smooth and quick process. The photos were posted within moments using Verizon and T-Mobile networks.

Overall, the networks held up and I had more than enough signal to send photos and video clips to friends and family, as well as post them on social media. The mobile bandwidth even supported my video calls across continents and oceans, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to send dispatches from my seat anywhere in the world, even though I was alongside nearly 69,000 other fans doing the same thing.

I reached out to each carrier to find out how they have updated their stadium networks to manage the data fans need to share their World Cup experience across the world.

How operators improved their networks for the FIFA World Cup

Verizon

Verizon, the official sponsor of the World Cup, has installed thousands of antennas under seats and added more 5G spectrum to increase capacity across the United States. World Cup host stadiums and installed huge ball-shaped antennas to provide 4G and 5G coverage in nosebleed seats.

Verizon says it expects people to use more than 50 terabytes of data per game in each stadium.

“That’s the equivalent of simulcasting every movie ever made on Netflix on a single 90-minute game,” Abraham Arencibia, Verizon’s vice president of technology and product development, told me. “To accommodate this increase in wireless network traffic, we increased capacity three to five times across all U.S. host stadiums. We also added 80,000 miles of fiber to carry every camera feed of every match to the FIFA International Broadcast Center.”

Verizon also deployed nearly 150 small cell and temporary cell sites to improve reception in areas that will be impacted by the tens of thousands of fans who will transit en masse to stadiums or hold watch parties nearby. The operator also provides private 5G networks for Lenovo body cameras with a view of referees.

AT&T

Ahead of World CupAT&T also upgraded its network in all 11 U.S. host stadiums, with “more than 2,000 improvements in surrounding markets.” These upgrades are designed to meet increased network demand, which it will manage through on-site support teams.

At San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, AT&T increased capacity and coverage inside the stadium as well as nearby airports, hotels and city centers.

“Events like these put a lot of demand on connectivity,” Robert Walters, senior vice president of network planning at AT&T, told me. “We have strengthened our network in host cities to deliver reliable performance for fans, while ensuring first responders have the dedicated, priority communication they rely on through FirstNet.”

PremierNet — the First Responder Network Authority — is a partnership between AT&T and the federal government to provide a network across the United States specifically for first responders and security agencies. Unlike its commercial network, AT&T says FirstNet will never slow down, even during mass events like World Cup. FirstNet personnel are on the field at every game and AT&T has deployed cell trailers on standby to ensure this.

AT&T also offers Turbo Live in 10 of the 11 U.S. host stadiums, including San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. Turbo Live allows not only AT&T customers, but also those on Verizon and T-Mobile plans to pay a one-time access fee of between $5 and $15 to use AT&T’s priority network. You must have a 5G-enabled phone that is not carrier locked and has an open eSIM slot to use it.

T-Mobile

While T-Mobile has talked about expanding its network capacity in stadiums, airports, public transportation, fan zones and surrounding areas for the event, one of its main talking points has been T-Mobile Dynamic CX, an AI-powered system that adapts and optimizes the network in real time as demand changes.

“Dynamic CX, an AI-driven capability designed to help the network adapt in near real time as crowds gather and move through event areas, is being used in select high-traffic locations, including fan events and transportation hubs,” T-Mobile said.

This would include watch parties and local events around the World Cup that are not held in stadiums.

T-Mobile told me that Dynamix CX has been working well so far: it helped manage network demand during the first two games in Seattle, where more than 630,000 unique devices were in attendance, maintaining a 99% network accessibility rate.

At the San Francisco Bay Are At Stadium, T-Mobile improved the venues’ connectivity infrastructure, as well as expanded 5G coverage around the area and transportation systems. Like Verizon and AT&T, T-Mobile has support teams on the ground at games to monitor the network.

Telephone advice for attending a World Cup match

After doing all these battery-intensive phone tests, my number one tip is to bring a portable battery and charging cable.

Some other tips if you are attending a match:

• Use your phone’s virtual wallet for match tickets, transportation apps and stadium purchases.
• Make sure your phone’s software and apps are updated.
• Use 5G networks rather than stadium Wi-Fi for faster speeds.
• Sign up for AT&T Turbo Live in advance if you want the fastest network possible.

Corinne Reichert attended the World Cup match as a guest of Motorola/Lenovo. CNET’s judgments and opinions are our own.