Sandy showed weakness in LTE public safety system

As the First Responder Network Authority or FirstNet Board moves forward in planning for the nationwide public-safety broadband communications system, the performance of commercial wireless networks raise key questions. Can a public safety network that combines existing commercial networks be built to the reliability standards required in a public safety network? And if so, what will it cost?

During Superstorm Sandy, as reported by Firercebroadbandwireless.com, commercial wireless networks experienced "downed towers, widespread electrical outages, flooded generators and drained backup batteries. One quarter of all cell sites across 10 states were estimated to have been disabled, at least temporarily, by the storm."

It wasn't minor. "These networks failed when we would have needed them most. The idea of using commercial networks is a real concern for public safety," the NYPD's Charles F. Dowd told The New York Times.

These are the issues with which the FirstNet Board is grappling. The FirstNet Board was created as an independent authority within the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Agency to make strategic decisions about the nationwide public safety network, mandated by Congress in 2012.

Although the federal government has appropriated millions of dollars for hardening networks in 22 projects, the NTIA has asked cities to put those projects on hold until a coordinated plan can be devised. Still, it's possible that a truly secure network - 4G or anything else - may be overly ambitious.

Bill Smith, president of AT&T Network Operations told the New York Times: "To think that you can build a network that can withstand anything and everything that Mother Nature throws at it is a bit unrealistic. It's not impossible, but it would be incredibly expensive."

FirstNet (NTIA website)

Hurricane Sandy exposed flaw in public-safety LTE plan (FierceBroadbandWireless, Dec. 10, 2012)