Public Safety Advocate: Hurricane Aftermath
Three major hurricanes in only a few weeks. First, Harvey hit Houston with a lot of wind and an unbelievable amount of rain. Then came Irma, which hit the islands…
Three major hurricanes in only a few weeks. First, Harvey hit Houston with a lot of wind and an unbelievable amount of rain. Then came Irma, which hit the islands…
As I am preparing a report on the commercial and public safety communications activities during and after Harvey, Irma, and now Maria, which was the worst of the batch, I…
The answer to the title of this week’s blog varies depending on whether you talk to the public safety community versus the technology community. However, you also need to factor…
AT&T recently stated at a congressional hearing that there was no “real” definition for the term, “Public Safety Grade.” The public safety community responded with disbelief, led by the National…
As FirstNet moves forward with more than twenty opt-ins, and the network begins to take shape, questions remain about the types of devices that will be needed and wanted by…
Mid-month August, Denver hosted the annual Public Safety Conference. While those elected to APCO’s executive offices seem to be moving APCO more toward dispatch and training in that area, the…
There still seems to be some confusion about how a state opting into FirstNet will impact the agencies within the state. AT&T has been awarded the FirstNet 25-year contract, a…
In The Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2012 the section known as Title VI created FirstNet and set out the rules for building a nationwide public safety broadband network…
This week’s PSA is based on a question I hear nearly every day. It started when AT&T won the FirstNet contract and offered up its own LTE networks in addition…
Many people, even some of those involved in public safety, have no idea what the T-band is and why it is of vital importance to 11 metro areas with…
During the quest to obtain enough nationwide broadband spectrum for public safety, the Public Safety Alliance (PSA) and its member organizations worked industriously to convince members of the U.S. Congress…
[Not quite] Mission Critical PTT over LTE is being tested and put into service for live network beta testing. Two things are missing from these trials and tests: a mission-critical…
The FCC has new rules for locating calls that come into the Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), and eventually they will include a third dimension, that being height of the…
The issues surrounding rural broadband coverage are many and I have been involved in studying them even prior to the formation of FirstNet. In fact, the Public Safety Alliance (PSA)…
By now you know I believe the term mission-critical Push-To-Talk (PTT) is being misused as a label for what is available over LTE today. This does not mean this will…