Subject: [NEXTEL-1] T-Mobile USA Offers Priority Service to Emergency Workers in 15 Metro Areas

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 15:51:20 -0500

T-Mobile USA Offers Priority Service to Emergency Workers in 15 Metro
Areas

T-Mobile USA announced on Tuesday that it now offers wireless priority access
service in 15 metropolitan areas. The service enables national security and
emergency personnel to have improved capability to complete wireless calls
during emergencies. When trying to make a call in an emergency, Wireless
Priority Service (WPS) users have the ability to queue at the top for the next
available capacity from their closest base station in order to place their calls,
greatly enhancing their ability to complete wireless calls during these critical
times. WPS is available only to designated leadership at all government levels,
national security, emergency responders, and private sector critical
infrastructure personnel, as approved by the National Communications System
and Federal Communications Commission rules and requirements. In addition
to the greater New York City and Washington, D.C. areas where T-Mobile has
offered WPS service since May 2002, the capability is now available in
metropolitan areas of Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Boston; Jacksonville, Fla.;
Louisville, Ky.; Memphis, Tenn.; Miami; Mobile, Ala.; Nashville, Tenn.; New
Orleans; Norfolk, Va.; Philadelphia, and Richmond, Va. Additional markets will
be added nationwide over the next few months, as will further enhancements to
the capability.

Crisis calls get wireless right of way

By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 21, 2003, 11:21 AM PT

T-Mobile on Tuesday began giving priority access to cell phone calls made by
emergency service workers in 15 different U.S. metropolitan areas.

The carrier is among the first to offer "wireless priority" to emergency workers, a move
prompted by problems encountered during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York
and Washington. At the time, some of the highest-ranking U.S. officials couldn't use cell
phones to coordinate recovery efforts because East Coast cell phone networks were either
destroyed or overwhelmed by calls at the time.

Starting Tuesday, T-Mobile subscribers who are among the 50,000 emergency officials
approved by the Defense Department's National Communications System (NCS) can dial *272
(the "star" key and 272) and be guaranteed a call over the next available telephone
circuit, said
NCS representative Steve Barrett.

The NCS was given the task by the Bush administration of making wireless priority a
reality.
Barrett said he expects AT&T Wireless, Nextel Communications and Cingular Wireless to
begin offering wireless priority services "later this year."

Barrett could not provide a specific date, however, for when wireless priority would come
from
the nation's largest cell phone provider, Verizon Wireless, and the No. 4 carrier, Sprint
PCS.
He would say only that the two carriers are slated to offer wireless priority at a later
date.

T-Mobile has been giving cell phone priority access since May 2002 to a limited number of
emergency workers in Washington and New York City, the site of the most destructive of the

2001 terrorist attacks.

The effort launched Tuesday extends priority to all workers in those cities and adds
priority
access for emergency workers in another 13 metropolitan areas, such as Boston, Atlanta,
New
Orleans and Philadelphia, Barrett said. All of the areas included are on the East Coast.

http://news.com.com/2100-1033-981441.html

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