Decision on LMR-to-LTE migration for mission-critical voice should be made by public safety, Seybold says
Public-safety representatives should make an effort to educate government officials about public safety’s mission-critical-voice needs and update them on the progress made in the LTE arena, Seybold said.
Meanwhile, first-responder agencies should use FirstNet for non-mission-critical voice functions—a practice that should free valuable LMR voice channels for mission-critical communications—as a method to judge performance and coverage of the FirstNet alternative, Seybold said. During this time, bridging technologies should be leveraged to ensure interoperability between LMR and LTE systems used by first responders, he said.
Even if the FirstNet LTE system proves to be capable of providing mission-critical voice to first responders, key government officials should ask an important philosophical question before migrating all public-safety communications to FirstNet, Seybold said.
“My concern is that, if we have one network, what’s the danger of using a single network?” Seybold said, noting that FirstNet promises to be a prime target for cyberattacks and terrorist plots, not to mention being susceptible to normal natural disasters and man-made accidents.
“If we’re only using one network, then that network is the lifeline for all of us, and we need to make very sure that we really know what we’re doing. Today, there are multiple networks in every city, county and area in the United States. It would be harder to cripple our public-safety responders’ [communications on myriad LMR networks].”