News New Jersey medical center equips EMS units with tech from General Devices, Sonim 18th January 2019 Emergency-medical-service (EMS) paramedic units for AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., will be able to leverage the e-Bridge Mobile Telemedicine application from General Device (GD) and Sonim Technologies’ XP8 ultra-rugged smartphones in an effort to save critical treatment time for patients. General Devices CEO Curt Bashford said his company developed e-Bridge several years […]
News Fire chief encourages early FirstNet adoption, cites cost savings, potential mission-critical use in 2024 11th January 2019 Public-safety agencies should subscribe to FirstNet soon, so they can test the system’s capabilities and better evaluate future possibilities—perhaps LMR replacement within five years—according to a California fire chief, who said adopting FirstNet allowed his department to save $360,0000. “We’re all-in on FirstNet,” Stockton, Calif., Fire Chief Erik Newman said this week during a panel […]
News AT&T cites 50,000-square-mile FirstNet coverage expansion, greater public-safety adoption 10th January 2019 AT&T expanded its LTE coverage by more than 50,000 square miles and deployed the 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum licensed to FirstNet in more than 500 markets during 2018, with the number of connections to the FirstNet system topping the 425,000 threshold, AT&T announced yesterday. “We’re moving fast to bring the unique features and benefits […]
News Verizon can compete effectively against FirstNet for public-safety users, company exec says 9th January 2019 Verizon is positioned well to compete with AT&T FirstNet in the public-safety-broadband marketplace and to begin offering 5G services in the U.S. in 2019 and 2020, according to Ronan Dunne, Verizon executive vice president and president of Verizon Wireless. “We have the wherewithal to compete with FirstNet today,” Dunne said yesterday during the Citi 2019 […]
News Original FirstNet board member Ed Reynolds passes away 4th January 2019 Former FirstNet Authority board member Ed Reynolds—a member of the initial FirstNet board named in 2012—died on New Year’s Day after a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer, according to his obituary and information released by the FirstNet Authority. Reynolds was 71. “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of frm. FirstNet Board member […]
News AT&T reps cite notable FirstNet subscriber boost, update buildout plans within California 21st December 2018 Nationwide FirstNet adoption has jumped significantly to more than 369,000 subscribers from more than 6,000 public-safety agencies, an AT&T official said last week during a presentation to the California First Responder Network (CalFRN) board. Abigail Baker, AT&T’s region manager for FirstNet consultation in California, Hawaii and Nevada, cited the figures during the Dec. 12 CalFRN […]
News Potential security issue with Kodiak push-to-talk offering has been fixed, AT&T says 21st December 2018 A security vulnerability in software associated with AT&T’s Enhanced Push to Talk [EPTT] that leverages the Kodiak platform owned by Motorola Solution has been eliminated, an AT&T representative this week told California First Responder Network (CalFRN). Abigail Baker, AT&T’s region manager for FirstNet consultation in California, Hawaii and Nevada, read a prepared statement about the […]
Commentary Change is coming: Location-technology predictions for 2019 19th December 2018 It’s that time of year again, when CEOs pull out their crystal balls to predict what will happen in our respective industries in the coming year. I won’t pretend that all my past prognostications have exactly come true, but I do take pride in the fact that the location-technology industry is constantly changing in reaction […]
News MCPTT ‘no longer just a theory,’ but off-network questions remain, according to webinar speakers 19th December 2018 Mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) services already have been deployed in real-world situations, and users should be confident in MCPTT voice when on a purpose-built LTE network, although the path to robust MCPTT when users are off network remains unclear, industry experts said during a recent webinar. AT&T has announced that FirstNet users should be able to subscribe […]
News AT&T exec emphasizes 2018 response efforts during FirstNet board meeting 14th December 2018 AT&T has deployed fulfilled 90 requests from FirstNet public-safety subscribers this year—several times more than the carrier fulfilled in its role as a commercial carrier the previous year, the AT&T executive in charge of the FirstNet system told the FirstNet Authority board yesterday. Chris Sambar, senior vice president, AT&T-FirstNet, said that AT&T established a Response […]
Latest 3GPP standards-development work includes new classes of HPUE, progress on mission-critical services 1 22nd April 2024
Is LMR the best solution for first responders? Should 4.9 GHz license go to the FirstNet Authority? 2 24th March 2024