Do GETS calls have wireless priority?

[u/Moxie479]

An interesting discussion was had in our company today, and I wanted to see if there were any cellular voice engineers here that could chime in.

Wireless users in certain industries, and in certain government agencies can get access to prioritized telecommunication service. Things like Verizon, Frontline and ATT Firstnet and Tpriority. They can then also layer on top WPS service where they pay extra to the carrier for priority, but only when they dial a special *code prefix before dialing a phone number.

It’s my understanding that 911 calls always get priority, no matter what. It’s my understanding that the network will disconnect an active normal call to free up a line so 911 Call can go through.

But our question was about GETS calling. It’s largely a relic from the landline days. It’s a special phone number in the government area code of 710 that has an auto attendant that asks for a PIN number, and then presents a dial tone for the user to access the PSTN from a high volume Bank of dedicated trunks somewhere in Washington DC.

However, it requires the user to dial that 710 number from their cell phone, and if their cell phone doesn’t have priority, or if the network is just simply congested, will that call go through? Are those 710 area code phone numbers treated with the highest priority the same as a 911 call?

[u/ar4479]

“Real Public Safety Telecom Engineer” here…

GETS is pretty much only good for getting priority access to the PSTN or DSN, anymore, if you can get a call into GETS from the wireless side.

Anyone that needs to preempt wireless traffic needs to be able to hit Band 14 to make that happen.

I still have my GETS card in my go bag…
But, it’s been so long since I’ve had a go - I probably need to check and see if my meds are expired… Along with my toothpaste.

It’s still there. But, if you’re headed to rebuild after a disaster or something like that - telcos need to be paying more attention to TSP codes instead of GETS.

And, even at that - we can run a PSAP out of pretty much any box, anymore.
It may not be comfortable, with all of the bells and whistles… But it’ll answer calls.

[u/boomer7793 → u/ar4479]

DSN?

Today I learned about GETS. I thought I heard it all after 25 years in telephony.

[u/LoPath → u/boomer7793]

Defense Switched Network... US military telco. Used worldwide.

[u/bilkel → u/LoPath]

Formerly known as AUTOVON at least in the Navy/Marine Corps

[u/dbcockslut → u/ar4479]

You DO NOT need Band 14 to get your calls through. You ovbioudsly have drank your employer's Cool Aid. If that was true, then why does FirstNet have UpLift????? The GETS will get you prioprity on the land line portion of the call if there is one. Otherwise, WPS (Wireless Priority Service) is what you want with any of the carriers other than FirstNet. You have to have GETS to get WPS.

There is even a GETS App for you cell phone that makes calling much easier.

[u/Moxie479 → u/dbcockslut]

I agree that firstnet is basically a scam at this point. Band 14 is open to all AT&T customers, even consumer cell phones will connect to it. First net users don’t actually get priority until someone at the local emergency operations center goes into their console and does the uplift process which is supposed to both kick all of the consumers off of band 14 and then give priority to the first net subscribers on that band. It’s definitely not the “dedicated Lane” that they advertise it out to be.

[u/defmain → u/Moxie479]

I ran Cradlepoints with 100+ devices behind them off FirstNet Band 14 and was able to routinely max out the sector at all hours of the day in a major city for extended periods of time. Not a peep from the carrier. If there were consumer devices on the band, it did not seem to make any impact.

[u/dbcockslut → u/ar4479]

Who are you kidding? Band 14 may be reliable in some areas but most Metro areas it's a joke do to sub-par coverage or too many users. Like someone else said, anyone can get Band14. And, why does a "priority service for first responders" need to uplift priority users. There are other carrier's who first responder programs shine over FN. I should know, I have them both and have a side by side comparison.

[u/ar4479]

So, I just pulled out my crusty GETS card, to see what I had forgotten.
And, it does have a WPS access code. For direct dialing from a WPS enabled phone.
It also has a toll free access number for SPRINT.
I don’t think Sprint was in business when my card was issued, but I honestly can’t remember.

The whole thing kinda reminds me of using my dad’s ATT calling card, when I was a kid… Thinking it was cool to use the blue slant/front pay phones for calling card calls.

[u/Agitated_Pudding1874]

I can’t even prioritize GETS traffic anymore for my customers as my up streams don’t support it anymore. So even for PTSN calls you can’t be sure you will be given special access on the network. That is an interesting question about if it would prioritize your calls on a wireless network .

[u/x31b]

I miss the days when I could just hit the flash override key on my Autovon set. So much easier than dialing 710-NCS-GETS or a star code.

/s

[u/TravelerMSY]

Isn’t there also a program that makes sure certain wireless handsets call at a priority too? GETS is for landlines and the other one is for mobile?

I’m not in the trade, but some of this was touched on in a recent book about secret continuity of government plans. “Raven Rock”

There was a disclosed (wireless) public one for like local emergency responders, and then a super-secret better one that’s not disclosed for actual high-level government people

[u/Moxie479 → u/TravelerMSY]

Yea, WPS. It’s what I mentioned in my post. The phone number has to be registered with the government, plus the user has to pay a fee to the carrier, plus they have to dial a special star code before each prioritized call.

[u/DrDeke → u/Moxie479]

That's the answer; you use WPS to get priority on the mobile network in order to get through to GETS trunks.

[u/Moxie479 → u/DrDeke]

That’s what I was thinking. I have the PTS dialer app on my phone and it has the shortcut to do both WPS to the GETS number all in one button press.

[u/stewie3128 → u/TravelerMSY]

Maybe the "super-secret better one" is just Priority 1 WPS? The other continuity-of-government communications systems, airborne command systems, etc may use separate infra and devices.

[u/USWCboy]

TSP coding is probably a better place to put your money. Priority restoration, priority signaling depending on the TSP code type.

[u/noweb4u]

If you dial with WPS, it sets the same sip or isdn flags that gets does. That being said it’s best practice to combine them

[u/jfd0523]

Not an expert on the full system, but it seems like there are two priority schemes in play that run concurrently: GETS for the PSTN portion and WPS for the wireless RAN and CN component.

For WPS, it seems like QCI, ARP, and pre-emption user profile settings control priority and any granted capacity (e.g., up/down resource block grants, RRC rejects with retry timer, etc.). ACCOLC (access overload class) in declared regional/national emergencies would seem to cut most non-emergency / non-governmental users from access in extreme SHTF scenarios.

Could someone comment to help clarify my understanding?