By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
An effort to make sure that when first responders use their cell phones whether for calls, texts, or data the broadband network is there for the information to go through is nearly complete.
Former Phoenix police officer David Faulkner works for 1st Net Authority within the Commerce Department. He says 1st Net won’t replace police and fire radios, but enhances emergency communication.
“The goal is data,” Faulkner tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “We need data when we go out and do these things. When the network gets congested, if you can picture a college football game where there’s a large number of people in one area, the network gets congested. And, it’s tough for our calls to go through. So, the goal of 1st Net is that our calls always go through.”
Faulkner says police, fire, emergency workers, even Homeland Security have one overriding request when discussing the use of cell phones.
“I would say their main concern and the number one thing I hear is coverage,” according to Faulkner. “In the state of Arizona, two years-plus ago when we first started doing this and AT&T started building out, things have changed dramatically.”
Faulkner says the 1st Net Authority is about 80% complete.
“Our coverage, which is always the main concern, has dramatically improved and it gets better every day.”
The idea for 1st Net Authority grew out of tragedy. The 9/11 Commission identified communication failures as devastating to response in wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City. Congress created the 1st Responders Network Authority. In 2017, AT&T won the bid to build the special high-speed bandwidth for police, fire, emergency crews, and the like to use in times of crisis.
Mike Chambers with AT&T in northwest Missouri says some disasters leave little wireless broadband network left, such as the devastating tornado that hit Joplin in 2011. Chambers says 1st Net Authority gives first responders priority and preemption.
“If the disaster gets big and there’s very little network left, say in Joplin where many towers were taken out. Then, we can activate preemption where that network kind of kicks everybody off and the first responders are on,” Chambers says. “That would only be done at a time when it is pretty much critical.”
Chambers says AT&T has built about 80% of the first responder network and is concentrating on building towers to reach rural America, including parts of northern Missouri with little cell phone service.