Wi-Fi for music festivals – WIFI ROCKSTARS

What's Wi-Fi for at festivals? When a large crowd gathers at a festival and shares their experience over the mobile network, it's often overloaded. We've observed this phenomenon more frequently at events. The industry recognizes the problem, but not everyone is addressing it. Smartphones as mobile all-rounders open up a new dimension that enables interaction between the event, the venue, and the audience. Event organizers face the challenge of presenting themselves as an omnipresent world of experience. Therefore, temporary Wi-Fi hotspots are essential.

STAGE REPORT: What can WiFi Rockstars do and what is the company’s focus?

Robert Peter: WIFI ROCKSTARS is one of the leading service providers for temporary Wi-Fi hotspots for events in Germany. We have the technical expertise and infrastructure to implement flexible, temporary Wi-Fi solutions of any size.

STAGE REPORT: In which situations is the company booked or when is the company used?

Robert Peter: Marketing managers at companies like BMW, Sony, Becks, and Red Bull try to identify the ever-changing drivers for festival attendance and constantly optimize strategies to appeal to their target audience, engage them emotionally, and achieve their goals. A high-quality live event is primarily defined by its atmosphere.

From our perspective, all parties strive to create an infrastructure that delivers a high level of service, aesthetics, and quality. Satisfying customer needs is our top priority. Therefore, we take a holistic approach with a customer-focused approach. Our Wi-Fi therefore serves as the infrastructure for companies' marketing activities such as promotions, free live streams, or easy internet connectivity. We see ourselves as part of the service value chain, where we strive to achieve our customers' goals.

STAGEREPORT: What areas are usually networked?

Robert Peter: We're generally very flexible here. Generally speaking, anything is possible, though of course, price-related.

Many kilometers of cable were laid for the Rock im Revier rock festival, which lasted several days.

STAGE REPORT: Example Rock im Revier 2015 – what did the performance portfolio look like?

Robert Peter : A completely temporary, high-performance Wi-Fi network, including infrastructure for various areas (festival office, production, passport office, etc.), was installed around the arena. Security surveillance is a top priority for such a monumental festival. So, sophisticated, high-quality camera technology was used in the Wi-Fi network. The cameras were connected via Wi-Fi to bundle all images onto a single computer or send them to an external monitoring center. We also used fiber optic cables over long distances to make the installation completely weatherproof.

Stable Wi-Fi was also booked backstage for the artists and management. To ensure a stay fit for world-class stars, FC Schalke 04's dressing rooms and their guest cabins for the backstage and VIP areas were remodeled and adapted accordingly. We're a little proud that top international acts like Metallica, Muse, KISS, Faith No More, and Limp Bizkit used "our" Wi-Fi.

STAGE REPORT: What technology is being used (what kind of arrays are being used) and what can it achieve?

Robert Peter: We want to offer our customers maximum performance. That's why we only use high-performance Wi-Fi arrays from the enterprise environment. This includes the best possible coverage, unbeatable reliability, and sufficient bandwidth even for large numbers of simultaneous devices.

STAGE REPORT: Are there any technical limitations?

Robert Peter: We are highly specialized and able to flexibly connect almost any customer location. Whether our customers are hosting an event at a lake, in an industrial hall, or on a grassy field, we can provide a solution even in locations where there is no internet connection.

STAGEREPORT: Does cabling effort play a role in the installation work for projects like Rock im Revier?

Robert Peter: 100% yes! For Rock im Revier, several kilometers of cable were laid in and around the Veltins Arena.

STAGE REPORT: Staying with Rock im Revier – how much lead time does WiFi Rockstars need to plan and set up such a temporary infrastructure?

Robert Peter: The more lead time, the better. From inquiry to implementation, it took exactly ten days, which is quite ambitious given the scale.

STAGEREPORT: What about services such as ongoing support for Wi-Fi installations for music festivals?

Robert Peter: Fast action and consistent support are important, as the respective management usually has various special requests that need to be implemented at short notice. This even involved remodeling just before the performance.

STAGEREPORT: Where does the company operate (regionally, Germany, Europe)?

Robert Peter: We operate throughout Europe. Our core regions are Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
A wireless network for the entire backstage area, including artists, was implemented.