No Dial Tone and No Internet DICK PRICE, CBCP COMMUNICATIONS SME - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
What Happens When There is No Dial Tone and No Internet DICK PRICE, CBCP COMMUNICATIONS SME What Happens When There is No Dial Tone and No Internet Introductions Speaker Audience US Virgin Islands Irma/Maria Your Experiences Operating
DICK PRICE, CBCP COMMUNICATIONS SME
Introductions Speaker Audience US Virgin Islands – Irma/Maria Your Experiences Operating within a Communications “Desert” Open Discussion
Three Main Islands – St Thomas, St Croix, St John US Territory – Not a State
Federal – 1 Non-Voting Delegate to Congress
Cannot vote for President of US
Territorial – Governor, not a President!!; Senate – 15 members
Located 40 Miles East of Puerto Rico Largest Employer – Government of USVI Largest Industry – Tourism, Retail Trade Budget - $2B in Debt/ $110M Budget Deficit Personal Income – 33% below poverty line Education – 70% High School, 19% Bachelor’s degree
Communications – Public Sector
VI-Next Generation Network – Middle Mile Fiber/Broadband Provider Bureau of Information Technology (BIT) – Public Safety Radio, GVI
Broadband
Virgin Islands Public Television/Radio
Communications – Private Sector
ILEC – VIYA owned by ATN Cellular – AT&T, Sprint, VIYA (On Island Facilities), Verizon, T-Mobile Cable TV – VIYA Broadband – 14 ISP’s; VIYA Cable Landing Stations – CenturyLink, AT&T Tower Companies - SBA Towers, Crowne Castle
Damages - Public Sector VI-NGN
80 miles (95%) of aerial backbone fiber lost, $30M to bury 71% of the 24 Fiber Access Points Damaged $300M to bury all last mile routes nearly all were damaged
BIT
LMR Sites - 8 of 11 major damage, 3 totally destroyed Analog trunked system built in 2006; Not P-25 capable, $12M+ to rebuild
Public Television
Studios totally destroyed on St Thomas 100 Foot Tower totally destroyed
Damages – Private Sector
ILEC
Over 90% of aerial facilities: copper/fiber and cable TV destroyed Over 50% of backbone was buried pre-storm and survived Plans to bury most of damaged aerial cables
Cellular – AT&T, Sprint,
Most damage occurred to leased towers. Many generator problems due to 3+ month run times VIYA decided to abandon old system and install new 4G network
Broadband
Loss of middle mile routes and their own last mile aerial facilities
Cable Landing Stations
No damages, very hardened facilities
Tower Companies
Several towers destroyed and numerous generator failures
Aerial cable needs to be buried.
All buried pre-storm routes survived
Generators need to be continuous duty not standby
Power to “high” sites needs to be buried
Networks need to have more “self-reverting rings”
Larger stockpiles of spare equipment needed
Microwave back haul needs to be supplemented via buried fiber
Pre-positioned resources and contractors needed in advance of storms
Better understanding needed for shipping requirements and timing
Landlines
Do you still use them? Did they work?
Cell Service
Second phone on another Carrier? Did you have good data /text coverage? Do you think a cell booster would have helped? Do you have a personal hot spot? Do you use it?
WiFi
Were you reluctant to use a service as it was an “open” network? How was the speed of your service?
What apps/services have you found useful?
Walkie/Talkie - Zello? TiKL? Whatsapp? WiFi – WiFi Analyzer? Speedtest? GETS? WPS?
How could your experience have been better?
Different provider/carrier? Different devices/equipment? More choices in back up power? Solar chargers?
Go Kit
Do you have one? What is in it? Do you have it packed and ready to deploy?
Natural Disasters
Hurricanes - Katrina 2005; Sandy 2012; Harvey/Irma/Maria 2017 Tornados – Joplin, MO; Moore, OK; Tuscaloosa, AL Winter Storms – Nor'easters 2018 Fires/Floods – Midwest/California
Man-Made
Hazmat spills Terrorist – 9/11, Anthrax, Active shooter Structural collapse/urban events
International Events
Earthquake - Haiti Tsunami - Japan
Obtain “Ground Truth” to the extent possible People on the ground you can contact Media/Local Blogs/On Line Community Discussion
Pages
Situation Awareness is Key to a Successful Outcome
Understanding the Main Event Is the event stable/unstable - Why? Why did it occur? Natural event or Man-made Has it ever happened before - Was it this bad? What is the political environment you will be operating in? Who is in charge? Is the governmental organization capable of dealing with the event? What role does the federal government play in the event? Who are the key players within the lead agencies?
Understand the logistics chain
Transportation/lodging/food supply/security/medical /package delivery Documents for: entry/exit Are curfews in place
If so, understand restrictions and how to move about
Obtaining information from ground zero
Advance teams; amateur radio
Contact groups before deploying
What are the communications capabilities
Cell/sat/amateur radio What is working now; How well is it working What was it like pre-event
Team Contacts
Any pre-existing contacts on the ground? Are they recent? Previous experience with them? Anyone not going who has information to share? Will you be working for public or private sector?
Information Gathering
Historical background information on the area/environment? Look for local papers/blogs available to acquire more “ground truth”. Assess the regulatory and legal environment/jurisdictions. Pre-event conditions? Security, infrastructure, culture. Carrier/Comms company information/contacts in event area? Retail stores? Command
posts?
Download and print maps before departure. Call your cell carrier(s) before you leave: special calling plans (international roaming).
Comms Gear - Basic
Cell phone – Accessories/chargers
AM/FM radio battery powered
GPS Receiver for map guidance
WiFi Hot Spot – Choose correct carrier
Cables, comms and IT accessories (thumb drives, USB cables etc.)
Power supply: commercial, vehicle, battery pack
Headset(s) for cell phone
Comms Gear - Advanced
2nd Cell Phone - Different carrier than primary phone (GSM/CDMA)
Multiple power sources – Batteries, power packs, solar chargers, vehicle charger, inverter
FRS Radios (2)
Amateur Radio – 2 meter if licensed or not
Public Safety Radio Scanner with Weather Radio
Sat phone – Appropriate carrier (Inmarsat/Iridium/Thuraya/Globalstar)
GETS Card
Wireless Priority Service
How do you get Internet services?
Ask your hotel what the situation is for their guests Look for community hot spots in public places – libraries, government
Link in with the local providers for information on service restoration
and short term capabilities
Ask public safety personnel how they are connecting for personal
use
Any creative solutions from non-traditional groups (Love-IT on St John) Cell carriers: open roaming for data Set up your personal WiFi hot spot device Set up your cell or sat phone to create hot spot
How do you get phone services?
Enable WiFi calling on your phone, enable all networks: LTE/GSM/UMTS Utilize community hot spots for calling Ask local cell phone companies for information on service restoration and
short term capabilities
National carriers may not have facilities in your area, rely on other carriers Ask public safety personnel how they are connecting for personal use Find out if cell companies are offering open roaming for calls? As a last resort, set up your sat phone - Expensive
Quality of Service Received
Are your expectations in line with the environment? Services offered will be poor right after the event occurred Over time, the service should improve but prepare for
disconnected calls and very slow data rates
Your cell carrier’s quality may suffer if they are using other carriers Know your carrier’s policy on poor service credits; document your
experiences
Understand sat phones will have delays (voice) and SLOW data
speeds
Pre-Arrival
Departure gate/staging point discussions
Observe and listen/engage Look to see who is in the departure area?
While on the plane/bus/boat, engage in discussions with passengers. Final approach evaluations from the air (window seat/daytime arrival)
Power Poles/comms towers/roads/geographical area destruction amount and type
(blue roofs)/extent of destruction/amount of military presence
Arrival (while still on board)
Normal arrival or modified? Airport/terminal/port – Normal operations? Military? Destruction? Aviation Comms, Air Traffic Control: Normal or military? Cell Signal: Yes/No? Either phone? Strength? Roaming? 2G, 3G, 4G? WiFi Signal: Yes/No? Strength? Open/Closed Network? Use phone app.
Arrival (Con’t)
Airport/terminal/port –
Police presence – local/military, quantity, armament - normal/excessive Infrastructure – Broken windows, missing ceiling tiles, lack of lighting, clean/dirty Concessions – Open/closed, many/few, types Environmental awareness – relaxed or tense, jovial/all business
Amount of military/federal response agencies visible Amount and type of contractors, NGO’s visible Types of baggage/cargo – basic provisions, special provisions Ground transportation resources – public bus/taxi, rental cars available? Travel to hotel/office – condition of roads, ease of getting around,
conversations
FirstNet
Will this help first responders?
What are your expectations?
What are your concerns?
Amateur Radio
Do you make use of the capabilities?
Are you licensed?
Are you helping to get more people licensed?
New Technologies
5G – Will it help you in your mission
Google’s “Loon” – What is it’s future value for disaster response?
MicroSoft’s TV White Space – Are you familiar with it?
Vanu for Cellular – Deployed in remote areas for disaster connectivity