A new wireless service could be coming to Pennsylvania that would make sure first responders have priority access.

That new wireless network – dubbed FirstNet – was enacted by Congress in 2012.

“It is the first broadband network that is dedicated to first responders,” said Christian Peck, AT&T principle consultant, to the Warren County Commissioners on Monday.

AT&T was selected by FirstNet – the First Responder Network Authority – to build the network needed.

Peck outlined the basic problem: When cell towers were restored in Puerto Rico, everyone was looking for bandwidth on that tower.

“If I don’t have priority on that network,” he said, an ambulance would be fighting someone scrolling on Facebook for needed bandwidth.

The FirstNet network will allow first responders to have that priority access.

“Then I have that VIP card,” Peck said. “(I) go on that cell tower, I can kick someone off or prioritize them to a lower data speed.”

Peck said that the band, a 700 megahertz, is a band that the government has been holding onto for some time.

“It’s a lower frequency,” he said, noting that it will penetrate buildings better and travel further from the cell tower.

The government, he explained, “deemed that 700 MHz is prime real estate. This is what FirstNet was given.”

The initial allocation was for $7 billion, not nearly enough to roll out a nation-wide network. That’s where AT&T came on board.

The result, Peck said, is the “largest public-private partnership around.”

Warren County Emergency Management Director Todd Lake said that “FirstNet is a wireless service. Right now, I have a Verizon phone. As FirstNet, if Pennsylvania opts in, I would be looking at changing my phone to a FirstNet phone, switching carriers…. Instead of using regular commercial that you would have, it would be using FirstNet.”

Lake described FirstNet as “kind of like a secondary, an extra Wi-Fi out there that you’re not allowed on.”

He pointed to the 2011 earthquake in Washington D.C. that knocked out cellular service and “overwhelmed the system.

“This shouldn’t go down,” he said. “What it amounts to, any AT&T tower, they’re putting extra equipment there.”

Peck said that Pennsylvania has until December 28 to make a decision regarding opting into FirstNet. Should they opt out, the state would be on the hook for developing their own network.

“We’re going to be covering Warren County better,” Peck said, noting that he expects Pennsylvania to opt in to FirstNet by this time next month.

“(I) don’t see them opting out.”

While this capability might not be necessary for all first responders, Lake agreed that it is definitely something he would recommend to fire chiefs and police officers.