by AllThingsECC.com | Feb 17, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
By Richard Mirgon, Public Safety Consultant
This is a message for Verizon and Andres Irlando, a Verizon senior vice president and president of the carrier’s Public Sector and Verizon Connect unit. You are going down a path that is well traveled and not new. You can go back decades and see all the work done by thousands to resolve public safety interoperability and that path is lined with many failures.
Now since I am somewhat of an expert on this topic let me help you out with some observations and good history. You can look at all the standards work the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) has done, along with the work the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) has done. There are standards that cover everything from CAD to CAD interfaces, NextGen Networks to Land Mobile Radio (LMR). The largest having been P25. They have all had varying levels of success but none of those have solved the problem…
by ECC Editor | Feb 17, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Many business enterprises currently licensed to operate land-mobile-radio (LMR) networks on T-Band spectrum (470-512 MHz) are taking the first step this week toward making the first significant updates to their systems in almost nine years, when the FCC froze the band in anticipation of an auction that recently was scrapped… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Feb 11, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
by Karl Wilmes, Police Chief (Ret)
Public safety spectrum serves the mission critical communications needs of first responders charged with the protection of life and property, such as police, fire fighters and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers. The challenges facing public safety, specifically law enforcement in the 21st century are numerous. Therefore, the ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for state-based licensing for public safety operations in the 4.9 GHz band is extremely disappointing and has the potential to be life threatening…
by AllThingsECC.com | Feb 11, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
There is a lot going on during these early days of 2021. Broadband companies that did not bid on the FirstNet Request for Proposal are seeing how successful FirstNet is and want to change the rules late in the game; initial MegaRange™ drive tests are underway and a webinar is in the making; z-axis location technology is available; and now public-safety agencies are able to own or lease their own mini-emergency Band-14 cell sites.
Network Interoperability—Yet Again?
It seems every time FirstNet (Built with AT&T) releases updates or announces advances, other networks once again bring up broadband interoperability. Recently, FirstNet announced more network growth, new agencies, new subscribers, more Band-14 cell sites, and the addition of z-axis location that enables public-safety personnel to be located to within feet on the exact floor of a building…
by AllThingsECC.com | Feb 10, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Public safety agencies operating in partnership with the First Responder Network Authority, also known as FirstNet, now have access to new capabilities to communicate and enhance their response to emergencies.
In January, AT&T, which is building out FirstNet, the nation’s interoperable public safety broadband communications network, unveiled new technological features for the network. They include a new feature to enhance the geolocation of first responders inside buildings, high-powered wireless equipment designed to boost the range of devices in rural and remote settings, and a new push-to-talk communication solution…
by AllThingsECC.com | Feb 10, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Despite access to more than $600 billion in grants made available by the federal government and private sector each year, public safety agencies have struggled to make use of that funding, according to a new report from the law enforcement consulting firm Lexipol and the wireless network equipment company Cradlepoint. And those issues persisted into the COVID-19 pandemic, the report’s authors found, even after the passage of billions of dollars in emergency aid…
