Now That Your State Has Opted-In. As of today, 27 states and territories have opted in to FirstNet and it appears as though more are preparing to make the move. Once your state opts in, what do your local, regional, and state agencies do? There are four options:
• Keep using the network operator that is providing you with broadband service. If it is not AT&T, that is fine according to the law.
• Move over to AT&T now and start receiving the full advantages of the FirstNet ecosystem as it is rolled out over the next few years.
• Adopt a wait-and-see attitude and watch how the network evolves.
• Don’t use any broadband data and continue to rely on voice services-only as you always have.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to decide at an agency or multi-agency level, all these options need to be considered as well as pricing. However, if your city or county’s elected or appointed officials will be making the decision based on other factors, such as an existing overall contract with a broadband vendor, and/or what appear to be price differences only, the best you can do is prepare a case for the solution you think is best for your agency and work to gain support among those who will be making the decision. Hopefully, you will be able to make the decision based on the factors that most impact your agency and, of course, the price you will have to pay for the service each month.

One thing you must be aware of as a decision-maker for an agency is that coverage maps, especially those provided by the broadband network, in many cases simply do not represent the true coverage available in a given area. The maps are a snapshot in time, and one thing we know for sure is that broadband networks are still evolving and coverage can and will change over time. Further, there are two types of coverage maps, those generated by a computer-aided design program and those also based on actual drive testing of an area. Broadband operators are constantly performing, or contracting for, drive tests of both new and older coverage as compared to their competitors. In some cases, you will find you can receive this actual drive-test data at least for a single carrier, and some will probably want to share their competitors’ data with you as well.  Read the Full Blog Here 

FirstNet to Get Hill Hearing – Broadcasting & Cable
Oct 26 09:30 Verizon was pointing out this week that it is ready to handle public safety communications as well. Nationwide interoperability for our first responders …

Indiana 25th state to approve FirstNet plan for modernized communication network for public safety … – Front Page
Oct 25 07:40 Governor Eric J. Holcomb recently that Indiana will opt-in to the nationwide public broadband network deployment plan offered by FirstNet and AT&T.

AT&T, Rivada face off over public safety and FirstNet at CCA show – FierceWireless
Oct 26 12:15 And it appears that Rivada has made some progress in its efforts to get smaller wireless carriers behind its public safety proposal. Representatives …

First Responders Don’t Have to Change Providers for FirstNet – 107.180.56.147
Oct 25 17:00 By Don Brittingham, Vice President, Public Safety Policy, Verizon …

FirstNet releases policy for consulting with tribal nations after governors make ‘opt-in/opt-out … – Urgent Communications
Oct 24 10:16 … after governors in states and territories have made their opt-in/opt-out decisions regarding FirstNet’s nationwide public-safety broadband network …

Dublin’s smart city: Vodafone to turn docklands into NB-IoT testbed – Gears Of Biz
Oct 26 13:55 Vodafone has confirmed it is working with Dublin City Council (DCC) to test narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) sensors in the Docklands Smart …

FCC chair to work with Congress on prison cellphone issues – Sacramento Bee
Oct 26 12:35 “I share your concerns about the proliferation of contraband wireless devices in prisons and the potentially devastating implications for public safety,” …

FCC wireless chief urges regulation cut for 5G success – Mobile World Live
Oct 26 08:25 LIVE FROM BROADBAND WORLD FORUM, BERLIN: Reducing unnecessary regulation and finding ways to free up more spectrum are vital to meet …

Wireless Systems Solutions Announces Mobile Broadband Platform for Commercial, Public Safety … –
Oct 26 07:25 … levels, WSS is able to effectively reduce delays in response and network burden while providing post or historical, real-time and predictive analytics.

ZTE Trunking, Motorola China Ink Strategic Agreement on Broadband-Narrowband Convergence – Yicai Global
Oct 26 04:10 Motorola is a global private network giant with decades of experience in narrowband products. ZTE Trunking, a subsidiary of Chinese networking firm …

The exit of smaller telcos is good for industry structure in the long-term but painful for the … – Business Standard
Oct 26 04:10 Broadband proliferation is also increasing while number of narrowband subscribers is decreasing qoq. Subscriber growth turned negative in July …

Pai to Renew Push for FCC Reauthorization Before House Panel – RollCall
Oct 25 20:01 Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai plans to renew his push for a two-year reauthorization of the agency at a House hearing Wednesday. He says the reauthorization is needed to expedite spectrum auctions and to roll out a new generation of broadband. Key lawmakers say Pai’s appearance, along with other FCC members, at a House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee hearing will help to set the stage for moving the draft reauthorization legislation that was m

Cobham Wireless delivers AT&T hybrid communications platform to ETHS high school – Telecompaper
Oct 25 19:45 The success of the project sets a benchmark for the upcoming critical public safety broadband network rollout, awarded to AT&T in March by FirstNet.

Court Rebuffs FCC In Battle Over AT&T’s Mobile Broadband Slowdowns – MediaPost Communications
Oct 25 19:30 A high-stakes but messy fight between the Federal Trade Commission and AT&T over its mobile broadband practices may have just become even …

Scheduling a Non-English EAS Alert? The FCC Wants to Know – Radio World
Oct 25 15:45 EAS participants must submit letters describing changes to their EAS non-English alerts to their respective SECCs and the chief of the Public Safety …

FCC Action May Delay Deployment of 5G and Industrial IoT Applications and Services Under … – Lexology
Oct 25 08:40 The FCC’s plan to release an additional 150 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band under the new Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) shared …

Texas State University gets $5.4 million grant for active shooter training program – Community Impact Newspaper
Oct 25 01:10 In the face of tragedy and chaostime and time againwe’ve seen first responders act quickly and decisively to restore order and safety, Cornyn …

Eight western Pennsylvania TV stations to go dark – xmlpush
Oct 24 14:30 After an FCC auction earlier this year, eight television stations throughout the region will go dark, but only over-the-air customers will be affected. The stations, including WEPA Channel 59 in Pittsburgh, owned by Virginia-based OTA Productions, will cease broadcast Wednesday, according to Trib Total Media. The channels carry the Cozi, Movies! and RetroTV networks, which broadcast classic shows and films. The auction freed up broadband for internet providers and netted OTA $74 million. The…

Introduction: Narrow Band IoT Interfaces in LML – WirelessMetrix – Zendesk
Oct 19 09:55 LinkMaster is implementing support for Narrow Band IoT, and in this article, we’ll cover what’s new and how you can use LinkMaster with…

Schumer to fight FCC on changes to broadband standards – WatertownDailyTimes.com
Oct 19 06:25 … largest internet providers through fiber-based broadband, and its services are used particularly for health care facilities and telemedicine networks.

Huawei and Telefnica Deutschland recently launched World’s First 5G Ready Antenna … – Telefnica Deutschland
Oct 19 04:25 Insufficient antenna installation space has emerged as an evident issue of network deployment during the evolution from 4G to 4.5G/5G. As 700 MHz …

Samsung Connect Tag lets you track your loved ones, pets and other important stuff – Gizbot
Oct 19 03:35 The Samsung Connect Tag provides smart location notifications based on the narrowband network thereby leveraging the internet services to know …