County approves FirstNet devices and service for field crews to address connectivity issues

Walker County Commissioners Court on Aug. 25 approved purchasing FirstNet devices and services to address ongoing connectivity problems for field crews who transmit patient-monitoring and other operational data from the field.

County emergency-service staff told the court crews often must rely on personal phone hotspots because existing Verizon devices and routers have produced unreliable connections when transmitting cardiac-monitor data and patient reports to hospitals. Staff said they trialed FirstNet routers and experienced reliable connectivity during the demonstration. FirstNet offers a prioritized service tier and the ability to provide temporary portable towers for coverage in constrained areas, staff said.

Staff noted a promotional price on devices (reported in court as $0.99 per device through a promotion running to Sept. 1) and a rebate credited later (referred to in court as a $1,575 device credit), which reduced the effective cost of the initial equipment purchase. During the discussion a motion to approve the change from Verizon to FirstNet and to purchase the proposed devices and service was made and the court voted to approve the purchase.

Staff indicated the contractual terms with Verizon were month-to-month for the lines in question; the FirstNet rollout will include device procurement, monthly service and the possibility of temporary infrastructure deployments by the vendor when needed. The county did not read the full contract text into the record during the hearing; commissioners approved the request and directed staff to proceed with the transition and take advantage of available rebates and promotions.