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Manchester City FC brings free Wi-Fi and video streaming to Etihad Stadium

How exactly do you upstage news of your rival club’s long-standing manager leaving? By announcing free Wi-Fi, of course! Manchester City FC has today revealed a plan to bring stadium-wide free Wi-Fi for fans at its Etihad Stadium, along with other match day goodies.

Manchester City becomes the second English Premier League team to offer free Wi-Fi for the thousands of fans who flock to watch their favourite team week in, week out. But how do you provide a decent Wi-Fi service to the 47,000 capacity of the Etihad Stadium?

O2 will be providing the broadband, Cisco the hardware, to bring free internet to the fans. Cisco’s Connected Stadium Wi-Fi service will provide a platform for the full stadium to use, which is also in use at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium.

There will also be a video streaming service available to those connected, bringing live video and other good stuff to mobile devices. This will be powered by Cisco’s StadiumVision Mobile service, and could see scores from around the country, goal replays and more made available to fans’ mobiles on match day.

It’s not just internet connectivity that will be getting a boost at the Etihad, either. Mobile signal boosting equipment will also be fitted to improve signal and call quality for those vital half-time texts and calls. All the equipment will be fitted over the next couple of weeks, and in reality is being put in place for the start of next season.