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Federal Way staff recommend migrating city cellular lines to AT&T FirstNet, citing reliability and multi-year savings
Summary
City IT recommended migrating most municipal cellular lines from Verizon to AT&T FirstNet, saying FirstNet produced more consistent coverage for patrol cars in local testing and staff-provided pilots and that the three-year deal includes device refresh credits.
City information-technology staff told the Finance & Economic Development Committee on Oct. 28 that the city should migrate most municipal cellular and data lines from Verizon to AT&T FirstNet, citing reliability and capacity problems with Verizon on city patrol routes and a demonstrable reliability improvement on a 2018–19 AT&T FirstNet pilot.
Staff said the city currently pays roughly $15,000 per month across Verizon and AT&T lines (about 395 lines total, not including patrol-car mobile routers). Under the proposed FirstNet migration, staff would consolidate and simplify rate plans, refresh devices (staff materials list promotional credits and reduced device prices), and place each activated line on a three-year contract procured via the state NASPO cooperative agreement. The migration would include a staged device exchange event with AT&T and third-party installers assisting city IT.
Staff presented an implementation estimate that factors early-termination fees for some Verizon contracts and a trade-in credit for existing devices. The proposal included an initial one-time net cost to the city of roughly $482 after credits and a projected gross monthly bill that would drop from approximately $15,009 to about $11,700. AT&T offered a monthly per-line bill credit during the first 36 months (listed in staff materials) that staff said produces an estimated annual savings of about $68,000 over years 1–3. After the credits expire staff estimated continued annual savings on the order of $48,000–$50,000.
Staff recommended Council approve the migration and asked that the committee forward the item to the Nov. 5 consent agenda. Committee members questioned Verizon's counteroffers, device warranties and the staff time needed for migration; staff said AT&T will provide onsite migration support and that the work could be completed in a few days of assembly-line operations. Staff also cautioned that a small number of Verizon lines might remain in place where FirstNet coverage is worse at individual employees' residences.
Committee vote: the committee forwarded the proposal to the Nov. 5 consent agenda, recorded as passing 3-0.
