Staying ConnectedStaying Connected

Sept. 11 highlighted the importance of wireless communications in an emergency. At Ground Zero during the height of the rescue efforts, thousands of New York firefighters, police, and emergency workers relied on wireless two-way radios, cell phones, PDAs, and other equipment to communicate with one another. And everyone has heard the heartbreaking stories of Sept. 11 victims using cell phones and pagers to contact loved ones.

But those involved in responding to New York's emergency communications needs say several issues must be dealt with to optimize wireless voice and messaging capabilities for future emergencies and for regular business. Some of these issues will be resolved in 2002, but others may take longer.

For instance, wireless-messaging carriers use different technologies requiring different frequency bands; this restricts customers' ability to easily transmit text messages or attachments to a person whose phone is serviced by a different carrier. Doing so is a cumbersome process for users on most carriers' networks and isn't conducive to emergency situations; users have to key in long strings of numbers that identify the alternate network and the recipient's E-mail address.

Short Message Service hasn't caught on in the United States the way it has in Europe, where there's messaging interoperability among wireless carriers. But U.S. carriers expect that will change, and Short Message Service technology will see growth in 2002. Observers say Short Message Service could be useful in emergencies when there's a high volume of network use. "It could be quicker and easier to send an SMS text message than getting a voice connection because less network spectrum is used for SMS," a Verizon Wireless spokesman says.

Multimedia messaging technologies or an evolved form of Short Message Service could prove a boon in other ways, too. "In an emergency situation, being able to use a cell phone to send a part of a building diagram to a firefighter could save lives," says Summit Strategies analyst Warren Wilson. "People want the same capabilities and interoperability in wireless messaging as they do in the wired world."

AT&T Wireless recently filled a gap for its customers by signing an alliance with InphoMatch Inc. That deal has resulted in AT&T Wireless customers not having to type long address strings and letting them more easily send Short Message Service text messages to non-AT&T Wireless customers, including users of Verizon and Cingular Wireless messaging services. Despite the potential benefits, most carriers have yet to move ahead on this front. Verizon Wireless expects intercarrier communication to improve, the spokesman says, but the company isn't sure AT&T has moved in the right direction. Some tests have shown that AT&T Wireless' InphoMatch services aren't as easy or as accurate to use as AT&T claims, he says. Cingular declined to comment.

In the meantime, carriers say they're working to address network capacity issues to reduce the difficulty of getting a wireless voice connection during a crisis. For example, Verizon's Wireless 1XRTT express network technology, potentially could double the volume of simultaneous voice calls made by Verizon Wireless customers, the spokesman says. The company began turning on 1XRTT network services last month, and handsets compatible with those services will hit the market in a few months.

Additional wireless network capacity for voice communications is very much needed in extreme emergency situations, says Jeff Arnold, director of legislative issues for the National Association of Counties, an organization representing county governments that acts as a liaison to other levels of government. When emergency workers' two-way radios fail, the rescuers often need to rely on cell phones to communicate with police, firefighters, or other emergency agencies. When cell-phone networks are bottled up as well, communication is greatly hindered, Arnold says.

Network capacity for wireless communications was pushed to the limit in New York during the terrorist attacks. In addition to the thousands of people trying to call friends and family, emergency workers needed to turn to cell phones because many two-way radios were lost. "Three hundred forty firemen had two-way radios on them when they went into the towers; those people and their equipment were gone," says Ken Denslow, senior VP and general manager for Motorola Inc.'s Commercial Government Industrial Solutions Sector's northern division and chief of the vendor's command center at Ground Zero. The Industrial Solutions Sector provides two-way radios and other wireless devices to public-safety departments in many cities and states, including New York.

"We've responded to hurricanes and other disasters like the bombing in Oklahoma City. But we never responded to or had seen anything like the disaster in New York," Denslow says. Within hours after the attack, Motorola began shipping thousands of pieces of equipment, including portable two-way radios, batteries, antennas, cell phones, and multifunctional iDen phones.

More typically, trouble with two-way-radios centers around frequency incompatibilities or other interoperability issues. Organizations such as the National Association of Counties are hoping that two-way radios and other emergency equipment will be developed that can operate on both the 400-MHz and 800-MHz frequency bands. Currently, a fire department that has equipment using the 800-MHz band is unable to communicate with a police department in a neighboring city that uses the 400-MHz band. Though it sounds simple, making equipment that can switch back and forth between bands is expensive, says Arnold of the National Association of Counties.

Another problem is that in some areas of the country only parts of the 400-MHz and 800-MHz bands are set aside for government and emergency use. In some places, commercial use of the 800-MHz band is so strong that there's a lot of interference with the emergency spectrum of the band, Arnold says. A better alternative than retooling devices now operating on different frequency bands so they're compatible is to set aside the 700-MHz band strictly for government use.

In 1997, Congress let the Federal Communications Commission dedicate the 700-MHz frequency band on an interim basis to television stations that were converting from analog to digital signals. The television stations are supposed to relinquish the 700-MHz band for their transitional transmissions in 2006 if 85% of homes in the country have digital televisions. But with only about 1% of homes equipped with digital TV now, it's unlikely that 85% of the population will have digital TVs by 2006 or sooner, Arnold says. This would mean that television stations could continue using the 700-MHz band while preventing others from gaining access, he says. A bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives (HR 3397) would require television stations to release the 700-MHz band in 2006, regardless of how many homes have digital TVs then, Arnold says.

In the meantime, to help communication in emergencies, companies such as Verizon Wireless are working with the federal government on priority access services for wireless communications. The wireless version of priority access would essentially have service providers reserve capacity on their networks for government agencies' use in a crisis. To use the system, officials would enter a code before placing a call to be given priority status.

Verizon's wireless priority access services are expected to roll out next month in New York, Washington, and Salt Lake City as part of preparations for the Winter Olympics. The Verizon Wireless spokesman says the rest of the country will be phased in later.