Turnkey Safety Solutions has announced the lineup for its exciting keynotes and panels for the Northeast Wireless Safety Summit (NEWSS). Many of the speakers are safety professionals, insurance experts and other prominent members of the wireless community interested in promoting the importance of safety, training and the most modern techniques for protecting workers from the inherent hazards. The event is …
Carriers’ cell site outages to the FCC will not match their marketing hype
Commentary Although the nation’s four major carriers are reporting cell site outages in affected areas of Hurricane Irma to the FCC, and the Commission is providing daily compilations for a snapshot in time, such as today’s outages in Florida of 13.4%, carrier public relations officials are beginning to spin their hardened site assets at speeds off the Saffir-Simpson scale. On …
Slow Hurricane Irma cell site recovery expected as cable and wireline outages increase
Although the FCC said that cell sites out of service in the affected area of Hurricane Irma decreased in Florida from 24.6% yesterday to 18.1% today, according to a contractor providing disaster recovery in the state the healthy 26% drop is unlikely to be a daily event since a number of sites have physical as well as refueling issues that …
NWSA begins development of Telecommunications Tower Foreman worker certification
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) today announced that a group of nearly 40 subject matter experts, representing a broad cross-section of the telecommunications industry, are convening in Dallas, Tex. this week to begin the development process for the Telecommunications Tower Foreman certification program. NWSA made the announcement at the 2017 GSMA-CTIA Mobile World Congress Americas event in San Francisco, …
Irma cripples communications in its destructive path through Florida
There was little improvement in cell service today in the U.S. Virgin Islands following Hurricane Irma’s destructive path with 54% of affected areas without service, only a 1% decline since yesterday. Florida saw a slight drop of approximately 2% at 24.6%. Alabama fared well with only 1% of cell sites out of service. Georgia, according to the FCC, has 10.5% …
Tower techs’ repack role and frontline disaster activities heralded before Congress
National Association of Tower Erectors Chairman Jim Tracy provided key testimony today before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing, taking the opportunity to stress the important role that tower technicians play in maintaining America’s communications. The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), conducted the hearing (video below) entitled “The Broadcast Incentive Auction: …
Hurricane Irma’s cell site outages could dwarf Hurricane Harvey’s maximum 4.7%
As Texas is still dealing with Hurricane Harvey’s areas of flooding, failures of water plants and prolonged toxic chemical concerns, the cell sites out of service in the affected areas hit a new low yesterday at 1.73%. However, when Hurricane Irma sweeps into Florida this weekend, industry observers believe that outages will far exceed Harvey’s highest total of 4.7% on …
Rivada teams up with U.S. Cellular to entice New Hampshire to opt-out of FirstNet
Rivada Networks announced this morning that New Hampshire’s first responders “deserve a dedicated, purpose-built and statewide public-safety broadband network, and Rivada has teamed up with U.S. Cellular to ensure that mission is accomplished.” In Sept. 2016, Rivada Networks, Herndon, Virg., signed a no-cost, no-obligation contract with the state of New Hampshire to develop an alternative radio access network plan for …
TIRAP on pace to achieve 1,000 registered apprentices, finalized new occupations
The Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP) announced that the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), which serves as the National Sponsor for the program, is on pace to sign up a total of 1,000 registered apprentices through participating companies. “This is exciting because the employers are not only utilizing the existing program but supporting the creation of new occupations and endorsements …
One third of the nation has now signed on with FirstNet
More than a third of the country has moved to modernize communications for the fire, police, emergency medical services (EMS) and other public safety personnel who bravely protect and serve their communities. Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska, Puerto Rico and Tennessee are the latest to announce decisions to opt-in. Twenty states and territories have announced their decision to opt-in to the FirstNet network – America’s …
Harvey-crippled cell sites are on the mend with 19% back as FCC adds nine new counties
According to the FCC, there are 3.8% of the cell sites out of service in the affected area of Hurricane Harvey, down from 4.2% yesterday. There are no counties with greater than 40% of cell sites out of service. There are no cell sites reported out of service in La. Since the peak of 365 cell sites out of service …
Hardened sites and resupply keep downed cell sites from Hurricane Harvey at 365
Even though flood waters are rising, there was only one additional cell site out of service today from yesterday as a result of Hurricane Harvey’s relentless rainfall in Texas and Louisiana. Carriers are attributing it to hardened cell sites and their disaster recovery plans that have intensified following previous hurricanes such as Sandy in 2012. There are 4.7% of the cell …
Harvey kayos 364 cell sites as carriers brace for more outages
After Hurricane Harvey hit the coastal tourist town of Rockport Tex., decimating communications in Aransas County, carriers reported to the FCC on Saturday that 18 of 19 cell sites were out of service. This morning, according to the FCC, the county is still without service, but more importantly, the percent of cell sites that are down in the affected counties …
Wireless industry works to maintain service for millions of Americans impacted by Hurricane Harvey
The wireless industry is working hard to maintain service for the millions of Americans across Texas and parts of Louisiana impacted by Hurricane Harvey, as data released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) showed that 95 percent of the thousands of cell sites across the region were up and running, although sites that are not operating are increasing. The nation’s major wireless carriers, AT&T, …
Goodbye Moto? Not likely, but competitors will cut into LMR and FirstNet business
Motorola Solutions is entrenched with U.S. government agencies and their land mobile radio (LMR) purchases are a significant share of the company’s profits, but in the past week a number of media are questioning whether the company could be vulnerable to competitors building handsets and other devices meeting FirstNet standards. According to a Forbes report, “FirstNet devices are expected to …
Crown Castle disputes whistleblower’s claim that it hid millions in fees from New York
A whistleblower lawsuit filed on Dec. 28, 2015 alleging that Crown Castle International has cheated New York out of millions of dollars by hiding fees it received from wireless carriers that were supposed to be split with the State has been unsealed in N.Y. State Supreme Court. The U.S.’s largest operator of towers and DAS systems is accused of filing …
Endangering daughter’s life on communications rooftop is beyond comprehension
A Wisconsin amateur radio operator overstepped the bounds of common sense when he allowed his daughter to use the top of Marshfield, Wisconsin’s City Hall as her personal playground this week. And one misstep on her part could have resulted in her tragic death or a serious injury. Chris Henry had the day off and decided to remove an unused …
AT&T and FirstNet are keeping a low profile as Verizon touts its public safety network
Verizon’s announcement yesterday that it would build a core network to support the nation’s public safety users, putting it toe-to-toe with AT&T which won the FirstNet contract to build a nationwide public safety network, has communications officials questioning whether Verizon’s network will meet the FirstNet interoperability requirements set by the FCC for states or territories deciding to opt-out and build …
California tower technician rescued by emergency crews
A tower tech working on a 120-foot self-supporting tower in Los Flores Ranch Park, southeast of Orcutt, Calif. was rescued after he became weak and nearly fainted, and could not descend the tower this afternoon. According to Santa Barbara County Fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni, the worker was doing repair work on the structure owned by the city of Santa Maria, …
Verizon takes on AT&T with its dedicated first responders network
Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless network operator in the U.S. announced today that it going to build and operate its own private network core to serve first responders, jumping into the ring with AT&T who has the contract to build out the opt-in FirstNet network. SVP, Public Sector for Verizon Mike Maiorana discussed the carrier’s commitment to public safety communications …
