US quake bolsters calls for public safety wireless network

Source: Reuters

Outages during emergencies can affect first responders, so solutions are sought

Disruption of cell phone service by a rare U.S. East Coast earthquake Tuesday prompted renewed calls for Congress and regulators to provide a dedicated wireless network for emergency workers.

(snip)
Creating a nationwide mobile broadband network for emergency services is a key 9/11 Commission recommendation that has yet to be put into action as the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by hijacked airliners approaches.

The wireless network would allow firemen, police and other first responders to easily communicate, but lawmakers and regulators have yet to reach a consensus on how to build, maintain and fund the network.

Of particular contention is whether to allocate a highly sought after segment of the 700 megahertz band of airwaves called the D Block directly to public safety groups, or to auction it to commercial carriers who will be mandated to share it with first responders.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44251099/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/

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If there was only a way to make it mobile.

The government should organize operators into an official emergency network that would be enhanced by police and fire station in times of emergency.

Maybe hams could relay cellphone data. It might be sent as audio like old modems used to do.
It would be slow but better than nothing.

that would be like government regulation or something. The market place and capitalism will always perfectly address any needs of the citizenry.


Just in case :sarcasm:

... for setting up statewide wireless emergency communications systems. I recall it very clearly here in South Dakota, those funds also paid to set up an Emergency Management hierarchy in each county, complete with 4x4 vehicles for use by the county Emergency Management office/officer. The vehicles were only to be used for official emergency situations/work. Some county sheriffs were frustrated that they got a brand new Dodge Durango, outfitted with emergency lights, etc, and they could not use them for daily duties, which is one reason why I recall it so clearly, it made the news for weeks here.

But I have since seen the sheriffs use those emergency vehicles for regular sheriffs office duties, ie... repossessions, by haveing an Emergency Management employee go along with the sheriff/deputy to haul the repossessed item(s) away.

Getting back to the OP, as I said, isn't there already an existing wireless emergency communications system already put in place over the past 9 years?

I'd like to see a lot more emphasis on teaching people to prepare themselves for emergencies.

911 and E911 services take priority over any other calls on our switching platform. Government traffic that is deemed critical should be GETS or WPS priority routing based on if it's wireless traffic or terrestrial.

If your curious you can learn more at the NCS website- http://www.ncs.gov/

Cell phone service was completely down after the Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994. Anything that depends on grid power is likely to be down.

Only battery-operated gear that talks to battery-operated peers or to satellites is likely to work.

and the PBX would have backup trunks and dial peers to pots lines in case say their primary circuit is down (which all the gear is on UPS as well). Also the POE switch for all the IP Phones is on UPS...



Example- A major airline I've been working with----

It's called a radio. Person-to-person communication by phone is really of little use in an emergency. Regular, old fashioned police-band radio exists, is cheap, and is available.