Hubbardston committee backs cellular backups, evaluates Zello for outages

Town emergency planners described steps to strengthen communications resilience following a recent outage, including purchasing five 5G wireless "pucks" and several municipal cell phones and revisiting use of Zello push-to-talk software.

The presenter said they bought five 5G pucks to keep internet/service available at locations including town hall, the fire department, police and DPW, and picked up two additional cell phones to equip essential staff. "We're going to have one at town hall, one in the fire department, one at the police department ..." the presenter said, noting multiple pucks would be placed around the town hall building.

Why it matters: municipal internet and radio failures can prevent coordination of payroll, sheltering, and emergency operations. The pucks were presented as an inexpensive short-term measure to maintain municipal connectivity during outages or cyber disruptions.

The committee also discussed Zello, an app-based push-to-talk option. Participants noted Zello's advantage of working off phones but raised two limitations: dependence on Wi‑Fi or cellular availability and ongoing monthly fees. "It was dependent on Wi‑Fi ... there's also a fee attached to it every month as well," one member said. The group also recalled past problems with short-range radio coverage to outlying areas such as Pinerest and Lon Burton camp and flagged those coverage gaps for further action.

Members discussed the town's cell-tower coverage (a tower uptown was reported online) and the possibility of integrating municipal users with regional dispatch towers. They asked staff to return with estimates of ongoing costs to determine whether EMPG or other grants could cover monthly service fees.

Next steps: staff will assess Zello's feasibility in light of Wi‑Fi and fee constraints, finalize puck placement, and estimate recurring costs for committee review.