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The Government Emergency Telecommunications Service
(GETS)
A telecommunications service in a constant state
of readiness.
The Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS)
supports national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) requirements
for the use of public, defense, or Federal telephone networks by Government
departments, agencies, and other authorized users. Developed in response to
White House tasking, GETS provides authenticated access, enhanced routing, and
priority treatment in local and long-distance telephone networks. GETS access is
through a simple dialing plan and personal identification number (PIN).
GETS is designed and maintained in a constant state of readiness to make
maximum use of all available telephone resources should outages occur during an
emergency, crisis, or war.
GETS uses three major types of networks:
- The major long-distance networks provided by interexchange carriers (IECs)
- AT&T, MCI, and Sprint - including their international services.
- The local networks provided by local exchange carriers (LECs) and wireless
carriers.
- Government-leased networks, including the Federal Telecommunications
System (FTS2000), the Defense Switched Network (DSN), and the Diplomatic
Telecommunications Service (DTS).
GETS is accessed through a universal access number using common telephone
equipment such as a standard desk set, STU-III, facsimile, modem, or cellular
phone. A prompt will direct the entry of a PIN and the destination telephone
number. Once the caller has been authenticated as a valid user, the call is
identified as an NS/EP call and receives enhanced routing and priority
treatment.
GETS has been designed to ensure that only authorized users access the
service through the distribution, use, and control of PINs. The GETS user will
be provided with a unique PIN that must be used to access the service. After the
universal access number has been dialed, the GETS user will be prompted to enter
a PIN and destination number. If the access control system fails, the call will
be processed and allowed to complete. PINs can be deactivated for fraud or
abuse.
GETS traffic receives priority treatment over normal traffic through:
- Controls such as trunk queuing, trunk subgrouping, or trunk reservation.
- Exemption from restrictive network management controls that are used to
reduce network congestion.
- High Probability of Completion Standard (ANSI T1.631-1993)
application to provide:
- NS/EP identification
- Priority signaling.
These features enhance the capability of NS/EP calls to be completed in
congested networks. GETS will not preempt public traffic, nor are there levels
of precedence in GETS.
GETS can be used to place or receive an international call. You can also
access GETS through FTS2000, DTS or DSN circuits by first accessing these
circuits and then entering the universal access number. This direct access
around potential PSN problems using facilities of FTS2000, DTS or DSN is an
important method of avoiding outages or congestion in the local carriers.
How do you become a subscriber?
If you are an member of the Federal Government, military or civilian and you
have requirements for emergency telephone services, contact your organization's
GETS Point of Contact or the gets@ncs.gov">GETS Program
Management Office for further information on becoming a subscriber. Non-NCS
Federal organizations, state and local governments, and other subscribers must
be sponsored by the OMNCS or an NCS member organization.
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You may contact the GETS Program Management Office by email at ..... gets@ncs.gov
Last UpDate: 16 December 1997 ncc@ncs.gov
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