by AllThingsECC.com | Mar 26, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
Verizon Frontline has the greatest level of public-safety broadband adoption of any U.S. carrier, providing almost 4.5 million connections to 30,000 public-safety entities, a Verizon Frontline official said last week. Patty Roze, vice president of public-sector sales for Verizon, cited the statistics during her portion of the company’s keynote presentation on Thursday morning at IWCE 2022 in Las Vegas.
While public-safety officials celebrated the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the law establishing FirstNet last month, AT&T claimed that its network footprint now covers 2.81 million square miles—a figure that was more than 50,000 square miles more than any other U.S. wireless carrier, according to AT&T.
But AT&T’s coverage advantage is much greater than this, based on figures shared by Roze, who mentioned coverage numbers during the keynote while emphasizing Verizon’s considerable financial commitment to build out its wireless network. Based on this coverage figure provided by Roze, AT&T would have a 130,000-square-mile coverage advantage when compared to Verizon…
by AllThingsECC.com | Mar 25, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
LAS VEGAS—AT&T supports the notion that in-building systems supporting first-responder communications on FirstNet should meet public-safety-grade requirements for coverage and resiliency, but questions remain about the business model for building owners that are expected to provide most—if not all—of the funding.
Steve Devine, AT&T’s director of public-safety policy and strategy for FirstNet, said that in-building coverage requirement for FirstNet on 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum should mirror the requirements that fire codes have for land-mobile-radio (LMR) systems, not just a typical in-building commercial deployment. This would require additional hardening of the systems and mandate coverage in areas of structures where public-safety works…
by AllThingsECC.com | Mar 25, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
LAS VEGAS—Perceived primarily as a data-centric network, FirstNet connectivity is gaining traction as a mission-critical-voice alternative to traditional land-mobile-radio (LMR) technology, as speakers during IWCE 2022 conference sessions have noted this week.
Push-to-talk (PTT) solution ESChat was one of the first applications included in the FirstNet App Catalog when it was established years ago, but all forms of PTT over FirstNet primarily have been used as augmentations to LMR systems, which has been a foundation of public-safety communication for more than 60 years. But that situation is changing, with multiple entities this week unveiling plans to use PTT over FirstNet for their primary mission-critical voice communications while shuttering aging LMR networks that would have required costly upgrades…
by AllThingsECC.com | Mar 24, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
Executive Mosaic is honored to recognize Jason Porter, president of public sector and FirstNet at AT&T, as a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, for leading significant company growth as FirstNet has been able to reach over 99 percent of the U.S. population and 95 percent Band 14 coverage in just the last five years.
In addition, Porter has received the most prestigious award in government contracting (GovCon) for driving 5G capabilities for federal agencies as well as the education market, and his focus on supporting and delivering mission-centric products for public safety entities. Visit Wash100.com to cast a vote for Jason Porter as one of your TEN votes to advocate for your favorite leaders in the federal and GovCon sectors.
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by AllThingsECC.com | Mar 23, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
The work-from-home evolution sparked by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic two years ago wasn’t just limited to the commercial sector; many telecommunicators also found themselves suddenly logging in from the couch.
“The pandemic has caused more of a need for remote and backup dispatch operations,” said Jack Kelly, vice president of Catalyst Communications Technologies, a company that facilitates radio over internet protocol communications. He was speaking at a talk titled “Work from home alternatives for dispatchers—What the pandemic taught us” at this year’s 2022 International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE), held this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The expo started Monday and will continue through Thursday…
by ECC Editor | Mar 22, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
Come July, Americans experiencing a mental health crisis can press three digits on their phones, “9-8-8,” and reach the suicide prevention hotline.
The vision: The new, easy-to-use number is being billed as the “911” for mental health care. It’s a dramatic revamp of the system that builds on the current crisis line, where Americans can call, text or online chat call centers nationwide and receive counseling. The ultimate goal is to be able to dispatch mobile crisis teams immediately to anyone in need, no matter where they live… READ MORE
