We all know the ultimate struggle of music festivals and cell phones rarely having enough service to make calls or texts. It’s all too common and requires coordination of meet-up points, walkie talkies, or just the general acceptance that, once you lose your friends, you won’t find them again.
Well, that could change sometime soon. Telecom company AT&T has proposed using drones to help boost reception, meaning AT&T users would be able to have functional cell phones at festivals again. The drones would hover over festivals, acting as temporary mobile cell towers to help create a stronger network by using AT&T’s 4G network.
Beyond music festivals, this usage of drones could also play an important role in emergency scenarios. Drones would be able to fly into an area where a cell tower has lost power, allowing residents to let their friends and family know that they are okay. They would also be able to evaluate the damaged tower in a way that humans are not and would move more quickly and efficiently. The company explained this more:
Connecting drones to our nationwide LTE network lets us capture data and feed it directly to our systems. In turn, this can allow us to make changes to our network in real time.
By using drones to inspect a cell site, we’re able to conduct inspections more quickly and safely – and even access parts of a tower that a human simply could not. We anticipate this will allow us to improve our customers’ experience by enhancing our cell sites faster than ever before.
Ideally, this new drone scenario would be a win-win for all of us at music festivals and otherwise; those who have AT&T will have the benefit of the drones, and the amount of network usage removed because of the drones will allow those without AT&T to have more service.
