FirstNet

Background

Occasionally a volunteer requests that PBEM provide a letter of authorization to purchase commercial access to cellular network priority for personal device(s) in case of disaster, when the tubes in public communication networks can become overwhelmed with data and voice traffic. Upon first examination, providing PBEM volunteers with access to reserved bandwidth makes sense because they are critical responders when emergencies occur. That is especially true after a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, which is expected to disable or at least significantly degrade communication systems. However, it's not that simple because that bandwidth is a limited resource.

History

There are two websites for FirstNET: https://firstnet.gov and https://www.firstnet.com. The TLD (top level domain) suffixes here are worth noting.

.gov

FirstNet originated in 2012 as a government initiative to establish a $7 billion interoperable public safety broadband network. In this article we are addressing a portion of the commercial cellular architecture intended to deliver priority service to emergency responders in the wake of a disaster.

.com

Once FirstNet was built, the commercial entities that were awarded the government contracts began doing what commercial entities are supposed to do: Maximize their profit from it. They do that by selling subscriptions to the system using a rather expansive interpretation of the program's original purpose. This is where they pitch FirstNet to people like NET and BEECN volunteers.

PBEM use of FirstNet

PBEM Duty Officers have FirstNet access on our city-issued Duty Officer phones, not on our personal devices. We also have FirstNet's complementary predecessors, GETS and WPS.

PBEM Policy for Volunteers

PBEM and city leadership have decided against endorsing the inclusion of BEECN and NET volunteers' personal devices in the FirstNET system. The reason is that in the wake of a catastrophic disaster, the limited-bandwidth, priority network should be reserved for professional first responders and some essential government employees. If too many people have priority access, no one does. To our knowledge, this approach has been adopted by many other jurisdictions in our region as well, though there might be exceptions.

Other FirstNET Devices at PBEM

As of 2024, PBEM has several dozen Sonim XP5Plus walkie-talkie devices which operate on the FirstNet system. We provides those devices to volunteers during some deployments such as Rose Festival parades, where we wish to avoid distracting radio traffic on unencrypted public frequencies. The devices also have advanced features such as GIS awareness and a powerful administrative dashboard which enables, among other things, EOC staff to track deployed volunteers on a real-time map for safety.