Priority access service in cellular and PCS networks

Wireless telephony can greatly assist National Security and Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) personnel in providing emergency communications. With the widespread availability of wireless telephony, a cost effective means of communication is readily available to NS/EP users. However, due to the heavy traffic demand placed upon existing or surviving systems in the aftermath of a disaster, severe network congestion will result in high call blocking to NS/EP users when their services are needed the most. This need has resulted in the wireless intelligent network (WIN) implementation of a priority access service (PAS) development effort. The WIN implementation of PAS provides a means for NS/EP users to obtain priority access on the next available radio channel when network congestion is encountered.