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Emergency Responders Advised to check GETS cards

Arlington VA, June 26, 2009 - With the beginning of hurricane season and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s prediction of up to 14 named storms, the Office of the Manager, National Communications System (OMNCS) is advising subscribers of its Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) and Wireless Priority Service (WPS) to test their subscriptions and verify their telephone numbers.

Additionally, the NCS encourages organizations to review their emergency plans and ensure that their key personnel have GETS and WPS.

GETS and WPS provide priority communications to the nation's emergency response personnel under a variety of conditions. GETS uses telephone lines to route priority calls to Federal, State, and local users, first responders, and owners/operators of the nation's critical infrastructures. WPS is the wireless partner to GETS and provides priority access for registered wireless users.

The OMNCS urges GETS and WPS users to reacquaint themselves with the dialing instructions printed on the back of their GETS calling card. The NCS also encourages users to continue to attempt to connect using GETS in the event that calls do not go through immediately.

For those subscribers using WPS, the OMNCS reminds subscribers to wait at least 30 seconds to determine if a WPS call is successful. WPS is designed to queue for connections for up to 30 seconds in order to secure a radio channel for priority users. During this time, the subscriber will normally experience silence on the connection while the service is trying to complete the call. If the call is unsuccessful after 30 seconds, users are advised to redial.

The OMNCS recommends WPS subscribers add GETS to their WPS call if WPS is unsuccessful the first time. The combination of WPS and GETS increases your probability of a successful call completion.

For more information about GETS and WPS, visit http://gets.ncs.gov and http://wps.ncs.gov.

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