OVERVIEW
What is Wireless Priority Service?
How does WPS benefit utility workers?
Who is eligible for WPS?
Why use free
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Natacha Baroni, Head of Energy Product Marketing at
In an emergency, first responders like police, fire, and emergency medical services rush to the scene. But energy utilities often play a crucial role as well. Power outages frequently occur along with wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards. And cyberattacks, electromagnetic pulses, and geomagnetic storms can also undermine utility operations.
When an incident interrupts the power supply, utility workers respond immediately to address hazards and get public health and safety facilities back online. To recover quickly, everyone must work as a team, confirming resources, updating tasks, and relaying essential information. The preferred access to communications is through WPS, meaning Wireless Priority Services.
DEFINITION
What is Wireless Priority Service?
Wireless Priority Services give authorized devices priority calling on nationwide and regional cellular networks when users dial the *272 code—but doesn’t preempt calls in progress or block public network use. WPS calls bypass network congestion and degradation and enjoy a 95% completion rate, giving first responders' cell phones priority. The service is managed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
BENEFITS
How does WPS benefit utility workers?
Your utility technicians may be making an urgent call or sharing critical files. They need access to the network NOW—and can count on it thanks to these WPS benefits:
- Priority access—first responders with WPS receive priority and are moved to the front of the communication line
- Preemption—a non-priority user without WPS is dropped off the network to make room for the first responder with WPS
- End-to-end prioritization—using WPS by dialing *272 or using the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS)/WPS app gives your call priority even if the recipient is on a different network
T-Mobile can help meet your connectivity needs now and lay the foundation for the future.
ELIGIBILITY
Who is eligible for WPS?
The Federal Communications Commission assigns all WPS subscribers to a user category (one through five) based on their role in a disaster or incident response. Personnel working in public services/utilities, public welfare, and critical infrastructure protection are assigned to category four, right behind public health, safety, and law enforcement personnel.
USE CASE
Why use free T-Mobile WPS?
Organizations can easily mass-subscribe select personnel to WPS via our bulk upload feature. Our services also come with 24-hour User Assistance at 1-800-818-4387.
About the author:
Natacha Baroni is the Head of Energy Product Marketing at
Natacha holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and an MBA from Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.
Fastest: Based on median, overall combined 5G speeds according to analysis by Ookla® of Speedtest Intelligence® data 5G download speeds for Q2 2023. See 5G device, coverage, & access details at
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