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NCS Encourages GETS and WPS Users to Test Access

Arlington VA, March 08, 2008 - An emergency suddenly occurs in your community. You need to make sure the proper response teams are notified. You try to make an outside call and get a busy signal. You try your cell phone and have the same problem - you can’t get an open telephone line! The phone lines are congested and you can’t communicate with your emergency personnel.

If this happened to you - an emergency responder or federal, state or local leaders - would you know where your Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) card is located? Would you know how to make a GETS call? Would you remember how to use the Wireless Priority Service (WPS) capability on your cell phone?

This is a scenario the National Communications System wants you to be prepared to handle. Although GETS and WPS are not complicated services to use, making test calls familiarizes users with how GETS and WPS work and allows them to recognize and resolve possible calling problems before a true emergency occurs.

Although the NCS does not require subscribers to make a specific number of test calls per year, all users need to test their priority communications services at least a few times a year. NCS officials need to make sure subscribers know where their GETS cards are located and how to use them.

NCS officials encourage all users are encouraged to make periodic test calls to the GETS familiarization line, located on the on the back of GETS cards. When calling the familiarization line, officials ask that users please stay on the line until the end of the recorded voice announcement to help ensure your call is properly documented in NCS records.

The NCS does not normally bill organizations for short-duration test GETS calls, however, please be aware that cell phone carriers will charge you approximately $.75 per minute for WPS test calls.

GETS contacts at each organization can track of all the test calls made by GETS subscribers in their organization each month and validate the organization’s monthly call detail record. Please keep in mind the record displays calls made within a certain reporting period, and the test call will appear on the record for the reporting period in which the call was made.

Although WPS calls do not appear on the call detail records sent from the NCS, WPS subscribers and cellular account managers at organizations should review their monthly cell phone statement to review any WPS charges.

Although there is no guarantee that an emergency will never occur in your community, the NCS hopes that if users plan accordingly and test those priority services, you’ll have powerful priority communications tools available to help combat telephone congestion, and hopefully, allow you to respond to the emergency as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Subscribing to GETS and WPS is not enough—testing these services is also a crucial part of your organization’s emergency preparation. Don’t wait—make a test call today!

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