First, thanks to all who pushed my DirecTV problem up the chain. Boy did I get a quick response and now have the product I wanted installed not by a contractor but a real, live DirecTV employee. There are a number of happenings in the news this week that could have an impact on both the Public Safety community and FirstNet. Verizon announced that for the first time it will be offering a new class of LTE service it calls “priority service” for both the Internet of Things (IoT) and corporate applications. There will be a per-user fee for this new service Verizon refers to as mission-critical. Obviously, I take issue with several things it is doing.
First, what it is offering is really a higher level of Quality of Service (QoS) as opposed to true priority, and second, paying for this service still does not ensure you will have access when the network is overloaded in your area. I am also concerned that Verizon’s use of the term “mission-critical service” might entice some of the Public Safety agencies considering joining FirstNet to perhaps stay with Verizon if they believe this offering is true “mission-critical” access to their network, which it is not. The last issue I have is that during the years the Public Safety Alliance was working with Congress and the FCC, both Verizon and AT&T stated publicly that they would not provide priority access for the first responder community because it would not be good for their shareholders.
Now it appears it is okay if they charge for a higher level of service for those who want and need it. But it is still not the full pre-emptive priority that the Public Safety community really needs. Strange thought that this would not run afoul of the FCC Net Neutrality rules.
As the FCC moves closer to the 600-MHz TV Auctions planned to begin in March, AT&T and the CTIA are being cautious and asking the FCC to allow extensive testing in the band in limited markets. It is normal for network operators to want to run tests in a new portion of the spectrum but recently there has been a lot of concern about the man-made “noise floor” increasing in both the 600-MHz and 700-MHz band.
Perhaps the best way to explain a noise floor is to discuss it in terms of a restaurant. If you are the only ones at a table you can converse easily in fairly low voices. However, as more and more people join you and the chatter level increases, you find you have to talk louder and that it is harder to hear the person sitting across from you. This is also true of the radio spectrum. As noise sources increase, the range of a cell site or a Wi-Fi access point will decrease and the performance will be degraded. This results in more sites having to be deployed in closer proximity.
With 5G almost certainly the technology that will be deployed in the 600-MHz band, the existing and future noise floor is of real concern to those thinking about spending billions of dollars buying licenses at the upcoming auctions. FirstNet has released the next revision of its Operational Architecture portion of the draft RFP and according to an article in Urgent Communications, the new document says that the partner or partners will now be responsible for 63% of the network functions. Stand by for more on this issue as well as the entire draft RFP. Please note our new office address, phone and Fax numbers : Andrew Seybold, Inc. 16402 N 40th Place Phoenix, AZ 85032 Phone: 602-788-5130 Fax: 602-992-0814 Email addresses and cell phone numbers remain the same Have a great weekend Andy
Updated FirstNet Operational Architecture would make winning bidder responsible for most functions – Urgent Communications via Google Alerts Sep 24 12:35 … FirstNet proposed an Operational Architecture outlining 615 functions the proposed public-safety nationwide broadband network should provide to …
Why do police want their own mobile broadband network? – secrets-1.com via Google Alerts Sep 25 07:10 Why do police want their own mobile broadband network? Posted on September 24, 2015 by Healing. By Josh Taylor In times of crisis, mobile …
Mobile Broadband Dedicated For Emergency Will Cost Billions – iTech Post via Google Alerts Sep 24 23:40 “Public safety agencies [PSAs] currently rely on their own radio networks for voice communications and some lowspeed data. Mobile broadband use …
Rural Broadband Expansion Must be ‘Transformative’-FCC Chairman Wheeler – AgWeb via Google Alerts Sep 24 18:05 Rural Broadband Expansion Must be ‘Transformative’-FCC Chairman …
Sprint fined $1.2m for bungling 911 calls – The Register via Google Alerts Sep 24 16:35 … themselves are not illegal, the failure to provide emergency call services poses a public safety hazard and subjects carriers to fines from the FCC.
Learn about communications during the Pope’s visit, how states are meeting FirstNet’s data … – Urgent Communications via Google Alerts Sep 24 14:35 In addition, Fred Scalerathe public-safety broadband manager from New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security & Preparednesswill detail the …
Roll-your-own public safety broadband network too pricey for Australia – LessThunk.com via Google Alerts Sep 24 08:15 http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/23/rollyourown_public_safety_broadband_network_too_pricey_for_australia/…
TV, wireless landscape could change with FCC auction – abc7news.com via Google Alerts Sep 24 00:25 Wireless broadband signals may improve greatly in just more than a year, but some of the TV stations people might watch could be going away, …
Why do police want their own mobile broadband network? – Crikey via Google Alerts Sep 24 00:20 The Productivity Commission has recommended that police, fire, and ambulance services use Telstra, Optus, or Vodafone mobile networks for their …
Police, firies set to lose hard-fought spectrum fight – iT News via Google Alerts Sep 22 16:50 Public safety agencies would be best served by commercial carriers when it comes to a national mobile capability for emergency services, the …
Mobility and Throughput Key to Unsettled Government & Military Satcom Market – MarketWatch via Google Alerts Sep 21 21:15 Likewise, narrowband land-mobile applications for troop and vehicle tracking, C2 applications, and otherwise connecting disadvantaged end-users …
White House to unveil broadband report Markey, Eshoo back net neutrality in court Indian … – Politico via Google Alerts Sep 21 10:40 The FCC has done precisely what Congress intended the commission to do classify broadband Internet access service according to its best …
LTE standard for Internet of Things machines gets the green light – Daily World News – Easy Branches via Google Alerts Sep 24 17:25 News The NarrowBand IoT standard would let Internet of Things devices communicate for years on a battery Stephen Lawson The international body …
Land Mobile Radio/Professional Mobile Radio and Progress in Public Safety Communications … – MarketWatch via Google Alerts Sep 24 15:30 … networks will be primarily used for voice applications. LTE is selected as the main technology for the FirstNet the nationwide U.S. PSC network; …
Local/Regional EAS Tests Come to Forefront – Radio World via Google Alerts Sep 24 14:35 22, the FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau approved a …
What net neutrality means for Netflix, AT&T, Time Warner ” and you – Tech Sep 24 13:00 Americans are increasingly ditching their desktops and reaching for their mobile devices to access the internet instead. For this reason, mobile broadband – or internet access from any mobile device – was included in the FCC’s recently adopted net neutrality proposal, making it subject to many of the same constraints and regulations as the wired internet. This has added another layer to the hot-button debate on net neutrality – the concept that all data transmitted over the…
Windstream says FCC’s mobile broadband testing should mirror wireline broadband – Make Me Feed via Google Alerts Sep 24 10:10 As a provider of wholesale services to the largest wireless operators, Windstream isn’t down on mobile broadband, but the telco would like to see the …
The new Narrowband IoT 3GPP standard brings cellular-based LPWA one step closer – Machina Research via Google Alerts Sep 24 07:50 Named as Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), the technical details of the new standard are still uncompleted, but it is likely to be a combination of proposals …
Huawei and partners Leading NB-IoT Standardization – Scoopasia | Press Releases via Google Alerts Sep 24 05:40 Huawei and partners Leading NB-IoT Standardization PHOENIX, 23 September 2015 — /PRNewswire/ — The work item titled NB-IoT (Narrow Band …
T-Mobile jabs at Verizon in new ad that highlights its 700 MHz LTE coverage expansion – Make Me Feed via Google Alerts Sep 23 19:50 T-Mobile US took a dig at Verizon Wireless with its newest TV commercial touting its expanding LTE coverage, tweaking Verizon’s recent TV ad that …
Eavesdropping on Aliens: Why Edward Snowden Got E.T. Wrong – Live Science via Google Alerts Sep 23 15:30 The SETI Institute uses powerful radio telescopes on Earth to search for narrow-band signals, or signals focused at one spot on the radio dial, Shostak …
Federated Wireless Partners With The National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test … – Yahoo Finance UK via Google Alerts Sep 23 08:45 … National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department …
Why Did Europe Choose Narrowband for Long-Range Smart Gas Meters? – Wireless Systems Design Sep 23 06:31 Sub-1-GHz long-range wireless connectivity in the real world is exemplified with France and Italy’s rollout of smart gas meters. read more
State’s rights come to a head in Tennessee’s case against municipal broadband – xmlpush Sep 22 13:45 As part of a suit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the city of Chattanooga’s utility company, the state of Tennessee is arguing it alone has a “right to create and define” its own political subdivisions. On Friday, the state of Tennessee filed a brief in its ongoing suit against the FCC and the Electric Power Board (EPB) of Chattanooga. The EPB currently offers fiber optic broadband service to Chattanooga residents. Last year,…
Public safety lte & mobile broadband market share, key trends and Forecast 2011 – Docslide.us via Google Alerts Sep 22 10:35 While the benefits of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and network virtualization are well known in the enterprise IT and data center world, both …
LG Uplus and Ericsson sign 5G, IoT partnership deal – TeleGeography via Google Alerts Sep 22 05:50 The agreement, which will initially run until 2020, covers four key areas, those being: IoT infrastructure, including narrow-band LTE; software-defined …
NHMC, Civil Rights Groups File in Support of FCC’s Open Internet Rules – KRWG via Google Alerts Sep 21 21:10 OICRC writes that the reclassification of mobile broadband Internet also empowers underserved communities, as people of color, low-income …
Overnight Tech: Big names defend net neutrality – The Hill via Google Alerts Sep 21 20:50 “In sum, the FCC has done precisely what Congress intended the Commission to do classify broadband Internet access service according to its best …
Download LTE for Public Safety by Rainer Liebhart – JoomlaTune via Google Alerts Sep 21 09:40 Research (PSCR) program, is building a 700 MHz public-safety broadband trial network to give. PCPS will incorporate the 3GPP public-safety LTE …
Research and Markets: Power Line Communication (PLC) Systems – Global Strategic Business Report 2015 – Business Wire Sep 21 09:10 DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/qbj4f6/power_line) has announced the addition of the “Power Line Communication (PLC) Systems – Global Strategic Business Report” report to their offering. This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Power Line Communication (PLC) Systems in US$ Million and Thousand Units by the following Types: Narrowband PLC, and Broadband PLC. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Ja