AT&T is furthering expanding 5G on FirstNet by boosting dedicated in-building connectivity and enhancing 9-1-1 resiliency across Tennessee with FirstNet as a wireless backup, a first.
Public safety in more than 40 cities – including Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Minneapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, Seattle and St. Louis – can access AT&T mid-band 5G+ spectrum. This provides first responders in about 100 markets across the country with access to at least 1 of the 3 flavors of 5G (using low-, mid- and high-band spectrum).
Qualified first responder agencies on FirstNet can now get Cell Booster Pros for use in areas where they’ve previously experienced connectivity challenges at no cost to them. The Cell Booster Pro is an enterprise-grade mini cell site that provides reliable connectivity for public safety on FirstNet, as well as employees and visitors on the AT&T commercial network. The Cell Booster Pro transmits public safety’s high-quality Band 14 spectrum as well as AT&T commercial LTE.
In addition, AT&T will equip 9-1-1 call centers, or public safety answering points (PSAPs), and first responders in Tennessee with an integrated infrastructure that allows them to be more flexible, resilient and agile. AT&T ESInet has been integrated with the FirstNet network to extend network connectivity to remote PSAPs that are either hard to reach or experiencing an outage. The State of Tennessee is leading the country in deploying this innovative solution at every PSAP across the state.
AT&T said this interoperability with FirstNet enables redundancy, resiliency and agility with AT&T ESInet so that PSAPs can focus on keeping their communities safe. If AT&T ESInet detects a disruption to the primary connection of a 9-1-1 call center, it will automatically route 9-1-1 calls over the FirstNet network to a remote PSAP. This integration strengthens PSAPs to maintain operations and creates a path for future Next Generation 9-1-1 technologies, including videos and images. These technologies allow PSAPs to coordinate with first responders more efficiently, improve situational awareness and reduce response times.
