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The Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) is a White House-directed emergency telephone service provided by a division of the Department of Homeland Security. GETS uses enhancements based on existing commercial technology
GETS supports federal, state, local, and tribal government, industry, and non-governmental organization personnel during crisis or emergencies by providing emergency access and priority processing for local and long-distance telephone calls on the public switched telephone network. GETS is intended to be used in an emergency or crisis situation when the public switched telephone network is congested and the probability of completing a call over normal or other alternate telecommunication means is reduced.
GETS is necessary because reliance on telecommunications has been accompanied by an increased vulnerability to network congestion and system failures. Although backup systems are in place, disruptions in service can still occur. Natural disasters, power outages, fiber cable cuts, and software problems can cripple the telephone services of entire regions. Additionally, congestion in the public switched telephone network, such as the well-documented "Mother's Day phenomenon", in which Mother's Day generally has the highest blocking of long-distance telephone calls of any single day of the year, can prevent access to circuits. However, during times of emergency, crisis, or war, government personnel and emergency workers need to know that their calls will go through.
For cellular telephone users, a related capability is offered by the Nationwide Wireless Priority Service (WPS). WPS users have the ability to queue at the top for the next available communications channel to their registered base station in order to place their call by dialing * +272+ [destination number] +send, greatly enhancing their ability to complete wireless calls during times of congestion. WPS is available only to designated leadership at all government levels, national security, emergency responders, and private sector critical infrastructure personnel, as approved by the NCS and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Rules and Requirements.
GETS uses these major types of networks:
In accordance with Section 1(g)5 of Executive Order 12472, the NCS also performs research and development to further enhance the GETS and WPS services through the use of new packet-based technologies (such as IP, or Internet Protocol). This work is done in the NCS' lab, formerly referred to as the eXperimental Testbed Environment. The multi-vendor lab is in the process of preparation for interoperability tests with other labs and research groups to validate these new approaches in today's Next Generation Networks (NGNs). Interoperability between NGNs and legacy telephone systems will continue to be an area of high interest and more elaborate studies for the NCS and their Committee of Principals throughout the transition from these legacy systems.
GETS is accessed through a dialing plan and Personal Identification Number (PIN) card verification system. Using common telephone equipment, the user dials the universal access number 710-627-4387 (710-NCS-GETS). A prompt directs the entry of the user's assigned twelve-digit PIN and the destination telephone number. Once the user is authenticated as valid, the call receives special treatment. When dealing with GETS User Assistance, users may need to provide a registered password of 4 to 9 alphanumeric characters for those cards issued to an individual rather than through stockpile.
GETS is designed to provide a 90% call completion rate when call volume is eight times normal capacity. [1]
India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world by number of telephone users with 1179.49 million subscribers as on 31 January 2021. It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the world enabled by mega telecom operators and hyper-competition among them. India has the world's second-largest Internet user-base with 747.41 million broadband internet subscribers in the country.
The National Communications System (NCS) was an office within the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with enabling national security and emergency preparedness communications using the national telecommunications system. The NCS was disbanded by Executive Order 13618 on July 6, 2012.
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. DISA provides information technology (IT) and communications support to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, the military services, the combatant commands, and any individual or system contributing to the defense of the United States.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for voice calls, the delivery of voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet.
9-1-1, usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic, Jordan, Mexico, Palau, Panama, the Philippines, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency numbers around the world, this number is intended for use in emergency circumstances only. Using it for any other purpose is a crime in most jurisdictions.
Enhanced 911, E-911 or E911 is a system used in North America to automatically provide the caller's location to 911 dispatchers. 911 is the universal emergency telephone number in the region. In the European Union, a similar system exists known as E112 and known as eCall when called by a vehicle.
An emergency telephone number is a number that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assistance. The emergency number differs from country to country; it is typically a three-digit number so that it can be easily remembered and dialed quickly. Some countries have a different emergency number for each of the different emergency services; these often differ only by the last digit.
The Automatic Voice Network was a worldwide American military telephone system. The system was built starting in 1963, based on the Army's existing Switch Communications Automated Network (SCAN) system.
Telephone number mapping is a system of unifying the international telephone number system of the public switched telephone network with the Internet addressing and identification name spaces. Internationally, telephone numbers are systematically organized by the E.164 standard, while the Internet uses the Domain Name System (DNS) for linking domain names to IP addresses and other resource information. Telephone number mapping systems provide facilities to determine applicable Internet communications servers responsible for servicing a given telephone number using DNS queries.
The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the aggregate of the world's telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telephony operators. It provides infrastructure and services for public telecommunication. The network consists of telephone lines, fiber optic cables, microwave transmission links, cellular networks, communications satellites, and undersea telephone cables interconnected by switching centers, such as central offices, network tandems, and international gateways, which allow telephone users to communicate with each other.
Base station is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service."
Project 25 is a suite of standards for interoperable digital two-way radio products. P25 was developed by public safety professionals in North America and has gained acceptance for public safety, security, public service, and commercial applications worldwide. P25 radios are a direct replacement for analog UHF radios, but add the ability to transfer data as well as voice, allowing for more natural implementations of encryption and text messaging. P25 radios are commonly implemented by dispatch organizations, such as police, fire, ambulance and emergency rescue service, using vehicle-mounted radios combined with repeaters and handheld walkie-talkie use.
The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) is a standardised architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services. Historically, mobile phones have provided voice call services over a circuit-switched-style network, rather than strictly over an IP packet-switched network. Alternative methods of delivering voice (VoIP) or other multimedia services have become available on smartphones, but they have not become standardized across the industry. IMS is an architectural framework that provides such standardization.
The next-generation network (NGN) is a body of key architectural changes in telecommunication core and access networks. The general idea behind the NGN is that one network transports all information and services by encapsulating these into IP packets, similar to those used on the Internet. NGNs are commonly built around the Internet Protocol, and therefore the term all IP is also sometimes used to describe the transformation of formerly telephone-centric networks toward NGN.
Abbreviated dialing is the use of a very short digit sequence to reach specific telephone numbers, such as those of public services. The purpose of such numbers is to be universal, short, and easy to remember. Typically they are two or three digits.
ACCOLC was a procedure in the United Kingdom for restricting mobile telephone usage in the event of emergencies. It is similar to the GTPS for landlines.
A digital subscriber line (DSL) modem is a device used to connect a computer or router to a telephone line which provides the digital subscriber line (DSL) service for connection to the Internet, which is often called DSL broadband. The modem connects to a single computer or router, through an Ethernet port, USB port, or is installed in a computer PCI slot.
The Nationwide Wireless Priority Service (WPS) is a system in the United States that allows high-priority emergency telephone calls to avoid congestion on wireless telephone networks. This complements the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS), which allows such calls to avoid congestion on landline networks. The service is overseen by the Federal Communications Commission and administered by the Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) in the Department of Homeland Security. WPS was previously administered by the National Communications System (NCS) which had been created by President Kennedy by a Presidential Memorandum on August 21, 1963 and expanded by President Reagan by Executive Order 12472 on April 3, 1984. On July 6, 2012, President Obama signed Executive Order 13618, which eliminated the NCS as a separate organization; it was merged into the Office of Emergency Communications (OEC), which had been created in 2007. A ceremony to retire the colors of the NCS and to celebrate the legacy of the organization was held on August 30, 2012 in Arlington, VA.
Area code 710 is a special area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It was reserved for the federal government of the United States in 1983 for emergency services. Since 1994, the area code has provided access for authorized personnel to the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) in the United States, and the Canadian local exchange carriers, and cellular/PCS networks. Previously, it was an area code in the AT&T Teletypewriter Exchange (TWX) for the northeastern part of the United States.
A mass call event or mass calling event is a situation in which an extraordinarily high number of telephone calls are attempted into or out of an area, causing tremendous network congestion, and therefore service which is either significantly degraded or potentially almost completely unavailable.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government.