1m more calls made in Tullamore during Ploughing

The Vodafone network in the Tullamore area dealt with 1m more calls than normal during the National Ploughing Championship.

According to the mobile phone provider, with almost 300,000 attendees sharing photos on social media and messaging friends, there was a 'massive spike' in the amount of data carried and consumed on the local network.

In a statement issued this week, Vodafone revealed that there was also a half a million more SMS messages.  

In total, during the week of the Ploughing the Vodafone network in the Tullamore area dealt with three times the number of calls and twice the number of SMSs than in the previous seven days.

Total data traffic consumed by customers more than doubled during the Ploughing Championship, while 4G traffic increased by 138% in comparison to the previous week as visitors shared their highlights, such as Tractor Football and the infamous Tipperary Schools Boys GAA rap ‘Puck Around’ on social media.

 Madalina Suceveanu, Vodafone Technology Director said: “Vodafone Ireland is upgrading the network continuously and  we now bring 4G coverage to over 90% of the population in every county in Ireland.  This makes data on your phone faster and more reliable, giving our customers all over Ireland a much better experience with Vodafone whether Snapchatting, sharing videos and photos, watching Netflix, listening to Spotify or working on the move.”