And for today's "official RNC such-and-such," we bring you AT&T, which will serve as the convention's official wireless provider.

We told you earlier this month about how wireless providers AT&T and Verizon are making multimillion-dollar upgrades in the area around the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa Convention Center and hotels. 

AT&T will go further, providing additional voice and data communication services, in addition to facilitating a text-messaging campaign that allows users to receive breaking news alerts about the August event.

To sign up for the alerts, which will include convention speakers and a schedule of daily events, text "convention" to 99000.

Previously announced infrastructure improvements include what's known as DAS technology, or distributed antenna system. Such setups consist of a series of small antennas that are placed throughout a venue, then networked to increase capacity and coverage. It's like having a series of miniature cell towers throughout the building, each servicing small areas of the venue. These systems carry voice, 3G and 4G LTE data.

"If you drop a call on an AT&T network in August, I will be shocked," Tampa Bay Host Committee president Ken Jones told a business group in February. And "when AT&T goes home after the event, all that network improvement stays here."

-- Kim Wilmath and Rick Danielson