How AT&T Plans to Keep SXSW From Swamping Its Network

Last year, the hordes of South by Southwest-attending geeks toting iPhones blew out the AT&T network around the convention center in Austin, resulting in dropped calls and crappy connections for many attendees.

The subsequent news coverage showed off Ma Bell's network failures for the entire world (or at least the world that cares about such things.) This year, having activated more than 8.7 million more iPhones since last March's debacle, AT&T is pulling out all the stops to make sure the digerati have the coverage they want during SXSW 2010. The strategy includes: A Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at the Austin Convention Center; Beefing up the Cell Sites; Three Temporary Cell Sites; and Better Backhaul.