Connecting with friends and family is one of the main attractions of the Neshoba County Fair, Mississippi’s annual summertime gathering with a 136-year history of bringing people together.

What started as a picnic in the 1890s quickly grew in size and stature with the building of a pavilion, exhibit hall, racetrack, midway and eventually more than 600 permanent cabins, often passed from one generation to the next.

Today, tens of thousands of fairgoers gather here outside of Philadelphia for one week every summer for “Mississippi’s Giant House Party,” nearly doubling the population and putting at least as much demand on the local communications infrastructure.

But a series of new, permanent 5G enhancements to the C Spire wireless network near the Neshoba County Fairgrounds has greatly increased cellular coverage and capacity to serve fairgoers as they share and post pics and videos and livestream events like horseraces, concerts, political speeches and more.

The “more” is an ever-expanding set of needs. Many food vendors, craftspeople and concessionaires rely on mobile point-of-sale systems and cloud-based apps to conduct business at the fair. Without a strong 5G signal, transactions stall and lines back up.

Emergency responders also benefit from this expanded wireless coverage. In the event of an accident or severe weather, fast, reliable communication can make a huge difference in the outcomes.

Across the C Spire wireless footprint, engineers constantly monitor customer usage and patterns and proactively add speed, capacity and coverage enhancements through micro and macro cell sites to stay ahead of customer needs.

The C Spire network team has racked up hundreds of enhancements to the cellular network in recent years, part of a $1 billion investment in expanding our network and the fiber infrastructure that powers our wireless towers.