When disaster strikes, Telstra sends in the TECKs
Filed under: customers, gadgets and gizmos, innovation, natural disaster, networks, TECK
Australia is a land of extremes. Summer means bushfires in the South and cyclones, storms and floods in the north of the country. The affect on our communities when Mother Nature unleashes cyclones, storms, flooding and fires can be nothing short of devastating.
Having managed the field workforce in Queensland and Northern NSW for the last seven years I have come to appreciate the forces of nature and the role communications play in the aftermath.
The biggest lesson I have ever learned is that the ability to communicate is never more critical than in times of tragedy.
It is here where Telstra plays its role in responding to disasters.
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- TECK unit on location
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- A TECK unit unpacked
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- TECK in use
Every time we respond to a natural disaster we learn from the experience so that we can do it even better the next time.
For example, after the Black Saturday bushfires Telstra developed new technologies to help connect communities and emergency services agencies faster.
The first were the MEOW (mobile exchange on wheels) and COW (cell on wheels) technologies developed for quick deployment to provide temporary mobile, landline and broadband services to communities impacted by natural disasters.
The most recent addition is the Telstra Emergency Communications Kits (TECKs). These specially designed kits are small, portable wireless communications units providing voice, data and broadband services to disaster-affected communities over Telstra’s Next G™ network.
The new TECK Kits provide local emergency services rapid and reliable communications until normal services have been restored. The ability to communicate means that these organisations can get back to doing what they do best. The mobility of the W25 unit and the fact it is pre-activated (ready to go) allows us to offer services in areas where a fixed-line solution would simply not be possible.
In natural disasters an immediate requirement of most emergency service groups is comms, comms and comms. Combining the W25 and our field workforce gives Telstra the ability to better support these emergency groups and local communities in times of their greatest need.
Is the broadband service free ? Or will the customer be able to sign up to a month by month data plan until normal PSTN broadband services can be provisioned again.
Not all customers have a Bigpond broadband service, many will be connected to another broadband provider via a telstra PSTN line.
Thanks John Parkin for your info on this very important subject, we sometimes (mostly) take things for granted, it cannot be easy commanding a team in a disaster zone, or being a technician under these circumstances. In a large emergency communication is so critical. Thanks for sharing these facts.
nice post,
I always prefer Telstra wireless broadband since I can surf anywhere within the network. I like mobility.
Thanks
Rocco,
The kits are designed for use by emergency services organisations and communities in times of disaster. This being the case Telstra supplies the kits for the time required free of charge – and that includes all calls and internet useage.
We are looking into the idea of turning the kits into a commercial product but for now the TECK has a very specific role to play during crisis situations.
John
Thanks Anthony… the work our technicians do during times of crisis – natural disasters, cable cuts and other major incidents affecting Telstra’s services – is nothing short of amazing. And often in adverse circumstances.
John
Telstra staff have access to the device management system for the TECK devices, providing service assurance, history and configuration management.
Possible TECK Improvements:.
Improve start up times and resilience to network disturbances – scripted to avoid downtime during emergency use – software awaiting approval
Location mapping can be made available online for this fleet of devices
An integrated statistics package can be deployed to the devices to report on RAN, data and voice performance – providing a means to understand the emergency’s impact on all subscribers in the same area
Craig,
First I would like to confirm that only Telstra staff who need to use “movingdata” to do their jobs have access to the application.
In response to your suggestion about improving start up times and resilience to network disturbances – all units are programmed and ready to go with FNN, FAX and broadband. They are ready for immediate deployment so there is no down time. There is also a process in place to trigger new software upgrades when required and all units are tracked in Autocert and Vector.
On your last point, the units are only deployed in emergency/impacted areas and NGLW (Next G Wireless Link) coverage is a prerequisite for TECK deployment.
Cheers,
John
Hi John,
The current policy for access, is any Telstra staff member who requests it. 99 Telstra staff have registered access to Device Director read-only functionality, controllable by a nominated fleet manager. The various profile, operational state and lifecycle history of the TECK units can be viewed online by these staff.
For emergency services management we have gone beyond the limited NGWL consumer profile by providing enhanced functions such as stakeholder reporting, multiple device types/brands, in-field provisioning of agency VPNs, location mapping and statistics-audit. Availability alerts are also implemented for service assurance purposes.
We also have field appliances to rapidly deploy and manage devices (multiple device types) – we provisioned 50 new devices within 3 hours for the 2009 Victorian fires for CFA and DSE. These field/depot appliances are fully integrated with the management system and save the cost of holding idle stock.
Please contact me to discuss how we could enhance the offering and drive it to a commercial product
Hi We work from remote locations, where there is no or poor Braodband and Mobile reception. Is it possible for us to get a TECK for use at these temporary sites