AT&T Thinks Drones Can Fix Terrible Reception At Baseball Games, Music Concerts (marketwatch.com)

Cell services are at some of their worst behaviors at music concerts, baseball games and other similar large public gatherings. AT&T thinks it might have a solution for it. In a blog post today, the carrier company announced the idea of building cell extensions into drones and flying them in to handle the large dense traffic demands. From a report:AT&T has dubbed the drones "Flying COWs" -- the COW stands for âoeCell on Wings.â The drones would boost LTE coverage to areas in need of it during occasional large events. They would be tethered to the ground to prevent them from going rogue and flying away. The trial project is part of AT&T's just-launched national drone program, which will focus on how AT&T and its customers can benefit from drones. The program director, Art Pregler, said they wouldn't have to fly too high, perhaps just under the roofline of stadiums or buildings. AT&T also envisions that Flying COWs could provide boosted coverage in disaster response situations, particularly when vehicles aren't otherwise able to drive into the affected areas.

Comments

Sky hook

[QuietLagoon]

...They would be tethered to the ground to prevent them from going rogue and flying away....

And they could be tethered to a sky hook to prevent them from going rogue and falling out of the sky onto people.

Re: Sky hook

[WarJolt]

Drones legally can't fly over populated areas and until you prove to me these things can fall out of the sky safety without causing undue hazard to people I say sports events are a dumb place to fly.

âoeCell on Wings.â???

[mykepredko]

Aren't we at the point where enough is enough?

To the /. powers that be, could you please update your systems so submitters can copy and paste with a reasonable expectation that characters like double quotes (") don't get mangled? At the very least, downgrade your editor system so these issues can be seen before the item is released?

Isn't this supposed to be the premier site for âoepropellerheadsâ? I think that it is long past when annoyance this should have been fixed.

Why Drones?

[nicholasjay]

Why does it have to be 'drones?' If they are tethered to the ground anyway, why wouldn't balloons be an easier and cheaper solution than a hovering quadcopter?

Stadiums: No. Emergencies: Yes

[SB5407]

Hmmm, how to handle large crowds at large, permanent venues? Drones?! Why not just install more permanent hardware?

It makes sense for emergencies where you have a temporary need though.

Wait, I have a better solution!

[kheldan]

Here's my solution:
If you go to an athletic event or music concert, how about you go to an atheletic event or music concert to watch the bloody gods-be-damned athletic event or music concert, and not fuck around on your gods-be-damned phone the entire time! Or is that just too triggering for you people addicted to your gods-be-damned phones?

Stop walking through your lives with your eyes glued to your stupid phones and actually live your life!