Communications providers are required to report major communications disruptions in their networks to the Commission. These outage reports aid the Commission in accomplishing one of its foundational aims: the protection of life and property through reliable, resilient, and secure communications networks.
The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau analyzes data from these reports to detect adverse outage trends, monitor and assist carriers’ service restoration in times of crisis, communicate with affected third parties (such as public safety officials and other government agencies) and, post-restoration, facilitate industry-wide network improvements and standard-setting. The reports also help the Bureau promote reliable 911 service to the public.
This site serves as a centralized location for network reliability best practices that reflect lessons learned from major network outages examined by the Bureau. These best practices could help prevent or mitigate similar outages in the future. Some of these practices were previously recommended by the Commission’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC), and some were developed based on the specific outages examined. The full range of CSRIC’s recommended best practices is available on the CSRIC webpage.
This site also includes network reliability resources specifically for small and rural providers, and for state and local governments.
Best Practices
The Bureau has released several Public Notices encouraging communications service providers to follow certain best practices to ensure network reliability based on the Bureau’s analysis of major network outages that occurred in the period leading up to the Public Notice. These Public Notices highlight certain CSRIC recommended best practices, which would have helped prevent or mitigate the effects of outages that occurred in the period leading up to the Public Notice.
- October 15, 2019 - Public Notice
PSHSB Encourages Implementation of Network Reliability Best Practices - April 16, 2018 - Public Notice
PSHSB Encourages Industry to Follow Network Reliability Best Practices - July 12, 2017 - Public Notice
PSHSB Reminds Industry of Network Reliability Best Practices
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