Taylor Swift fans broke a new record for mobile data usage during her November 21 concert at Rogers Centre in Toronto, using 7.4 terabytes (TB) of data in just a few hours.
This is equal to uploading 182,000 photos or streaming 1,600 hours of video, said Rogers on Monday.
Over the course of Swift’s six Toronto shows, fans on the Rogers 5G network used a total of 42TB of data, the most ever recorded at the venue. The surge in data usage highlights how heavily fans rely on their phones to stream, upload, and share moments from live events.
“Taylor breaks records wherever she goes and her fans’ data usage at her Toronto shows was no exception. Our network at Rogers Centre saw more traffic every night of the tour than any other event,” said Mark Kennedy, Chief Technology Officer, in a statement.
Earlier this year, Rogers completed an $8 million upgrade to its 5G network at Rogers Centre, tripling its capacity with technology equivalent to 33 cell towers. The improved network allowed for faster speeds and better connectivity during the concerts.
Swift fans experienced download speeds 2.7 times faster and upload speeds 3.8 times faster compared to data usage during a Diljit Dosanjh concert in July, which previously held the record at 5.4TB.
Up next for “Swifties”? Vancouver concerts are set to take place in December at BC Place Stadium, home of the BC Lions. BC Ferries will run 11 pm sailings the weekend of the concerts, to allow islanders to return home, as hotels and other accommodations are extremely limited due to the concerns.
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Huh, that sucks. Must have been a boring concert if people spent so much times on their phones… that sucks considering how much those tickets cost hey?
Is that something to be proud of or something?
If I go to a concert and have to resort to my phone to keep entertained – wow, what an absolute waste of money.
The concerts taking place at BC Place not Rogers arena bro.