The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stadium events of the year, and this week AT&T could help attendees avoid the kinds of cellular congestion that typically comes with stands packed with fans using their phones.
Turbo Live by AT&T provides priority cellular performance during big sports and concert events and is rolling out to 10 stadiums this month -- including Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area for the Super Bowl on Feb. 8. The service is also available to customers of Verizon and T-Mobile.
Turbo Live is a separate paid service that you purchase on a per-event basis. Access during this weekend's game, for instance, costs $15, but that's the high end among other events, such as the Backstreet Boys concert Feb. 7 at the Las Vegas Sphere ($10) or the Chicago Bulls versus Denver Nuggets basketball game in Chicago on the same day ($7).
Turbo Live by AT&T is a service you order for each live event where you want premium cellular access.
Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNETYou'll need a 5G-capable phone, which AT&T says may need to be unlocked, and an open eSIM slot for activation.
The latter detail is what makes Turbo Live available to Verizon and T-Mobile customers with unlocked phones: The feature is installed as a secondary eSIM. A Connect on Demand app will provide instructions for setting it up, which will involve a "one-time payment method" with no carrier commitment needed, according to AT&T.
Running a separate service as a secondary eSIM is becoming more common. It's one of the easiest ways to get international phone service when you're traveling, and is also how T-Mobile offers its T-Satellite feature to customers of other carriers for $10 a month.
A spokesperson for AT&T confirmed that Turbo Live is using AT&T's existing 5G network that covers the following 10 stadiums:
• Alabama (Bryant Denny Stadium)
• Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
• Chicago (United Center)
• Houston (NRG Stadium)
• Las Vegas (Sphere)
• Los Angeles (Intuit Dome)
• Miami (Hard Rock Stadium)
• New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium)
• San Antonio (Alamodome)
• San Francisco Bay Area (Levi's Stadium)
• Seattle (Lumen Field)
AT&T is also working to expand coverage in Dallas (AT&T Stadium), Foxborough (Gillette Stadium) and Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium).
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