Tangier is a tiny, remote island in the Chesapeake Bay off the coast of Virginia. When local landlines were scheduled to be down, emergency management officials worked with their partners across the state to deploy a FirstNet Compact Rapid Deployable to keep the island’s first responders and residents connected in case of emergency.

Nestled between the Cascades and the Coast Mountains in Douglas County, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians host their annual Pow Wow in this remote region of Oregon. With little to no wireless coverage in this area, the event presents communications challenges for local public safety agencies each year. In 2023, the Cow Creek Tribal Police Department turned to FirstNet to keep their responders connected at the Pow Wow and when a car crash on the mountain led to rapid response.

FirstNet provides first responders with priority wireless broadband service across all U.S. states and territories – but that’s not all. The network also offers subscribers dedicated technology, pre-event planning support, resource guides, public safety advisors on-call, and much more. Here’s your guide to getting the most out of FirstNet.

As a federal agency serving the public safety community, the FirstNet Authority works with public safety agencies to evaluate their communications capabilities. We offer an Operational Capabilities Workshop to help determine what technologies they have and identify any gaps in incident response. The workshops also help develop preparedness plans that leverage all technology options available to an agency.

The FirstNet Authority Board approved a full 5G upgrade to the FirstNet wireless network. This investment will extend 5G service to all FirstNet users across the U.S., bringing faster service and more capacity to first responders.