Steve Devine, APCO Chief Technology Officer, talks about the biggest trends in 9-1-1 technology, including the transition from analog to digital systems with Next Generation 9-1-1. Steve also discussed the role of public safety broadband in the emergency communications center and the issues APCO is prioritizing to support telecommunicators ..read more

Grundy County, Illinois, is a rural community 45 minutes south of Chicago. Deputy Chief Kevin Bogard of the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office shared the unique challenges the county faces - including the annual Corn Festival, which brings in thousands of tourists – and how making the switch to FirstNet helped simplify and consolidate their communication technology ..read more

First responders protect and serve their communities every day. Each spring, we celebrate their efforts, acknowledge their sacrifices, and support their unwavering commitment to serving others ..read more

The U.S. Pacific territories — American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam — are home to a quarter million Americans. Located thousands of miles from the mainland, these territories are among the most remote regions in the nation. The FirstNet Authority sent a delegation to all three island territories to discuss the current status of FirstNet in the territories and to further understand their public safety operations and emergency communications needs ..read more

In rural Elbert County, Colorado, a lack of connectivity posed serious safety risks for deputies and those they serve. Elbert County Sheriff Tim Norton addressed these communication challenges and brought his deputies better technology by switching to FirstNet, the broadband network dedicated to public safety. This enables faster, safer responses ..read more

In the early hours of the morning on February 22, 2024, our network partner, AT&T, experienced a broad outage that impacted public safety users of FirstNet. The FirstNet network was restored by around 5:00 a.m. CST — about 3 hours since service was initially affected for some FirstNet subscribers across the country. The FirstNet Authority is working with AT&T to implement strategies and corrective actions to help prevent FirstNet from experiencing an outage like this in the future ..read more

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Annual Report to Congress highlights the achievements and continued progress that the FirstNet Authority has made throughout FY 2023. Details of the FirstNet Authority’s milestone successes in ensuring the deployment of the FirstNet network and securing the renewal of its Band 14 license by the Federal Communications Commission demonstrate a continued commitment to innovation and serving our nation’s public safety community ..read more

SatCOLTS are a popular offering in the FirstNet deployables fleet, but the fleet has more to offer than just big trucks with tall antennas. Some of the newest options in the FirstNet fleet offer flexible, versatile coverage options that can help with a wide variety of response scenarios ..read more

Officials from the Kansas 911 Coordinating Council discuss how the state uses cutting-edge technology to enhance 911 services for telecommunicators, responders in the field, and the public. The state is using FirstNet to enable data sharing, mobile dispatching, and redundancy for 911 agencies ..read more

The FirstNet Authority team joined staff from AT&T to spend a January afternoon confirming that Allegiant Stadium in Nevada had broadband connectivity from top to bottom for the Big Game. Events like this are major tests for FirstNet, and the FirstNet Authority team has put in long hours to ensure that FirstNet passes with flying colors ..read more