GOP convention wired for sight and sound

ST. PAUL, Minn., March 25 (UPI) -- Souped-up networks during September's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., will help ensure communicators will be seen and heard.

Verizon Wireless officials say the wireless company has upgraded its capacity to meet an expected 33 percent increase in voice calling and a whopping 150 percent rise in data transmissions on its broadband network blanketing the downtowns in St. Paul and Minneapolis, where convention activities will be centered, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Tuesday. Qwest Communications International said it will add more than 100 miles of fiber-optic and copper lines in and around St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, the convention's epicenter.

Sprint Nextel and AT&T also are augmenting their service.

Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb, creator of MinnesotaDemocratsExposed.com, said covering the Sept. 1-4 convention entails spending at least a couple of hours a day on his BlackBerry, as well as a few hours on his laptop updating his blog with words and bandwidth-hogging videos and photos.

"I expect to be 'hot' -- meaning live on the Internet -- from the moment I get to the convention to the moment I leave, and then I'll go home and do some more," Brodkorb said.