LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — Wilson County Promotions and DTC Communications have deployed a large-scale, high-capacity public Wi-Fi network at the James E. Ward Agriculture Center, home of the Wilson County-Tennessee State Fair.
The network consists of 80 access points and is engineered to support more than 60,000 simultaneous connections across more than 3 square miles. With nearly 1 million visitors expected during the fair, the deployment ranks among the largest and most complex public Wi-Fi projects ever undertaken for an event of this kind in Tennessee.
The project was funded through a Connected Community Facilities Grant awarded to Wilson County Promotions by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Following a competitive selection process, DTC Communications was chosen to design, build and operate the network.
The system supports real-time communication for law enforcement, emergency medical services and fair operations staff, allowing faster response times, improved coordination and stronger situational awareness during peak attendance.
As attendance grows and the fairgrounds reach capacity, cellular networks often become congested due to the volume of users. The DTC Wi-Fi deployment is designed to offload that demand, ensuring essential services remain online and visitors stay connected when cellular networks are strained.
“This state-of-the-art network will be an asset to the James E. Ward Agriculture Center and the over 1,000 events that take place each year,” Josh Major, Ag Center Director, said.
The scale and density of the deployment are comparable to major Tennessee venues such as Nissan Stadium and Neyland Stadium, bringing large-venue Wi-Fi performance to a statewide public event.
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