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TiPS Episode 26 0102 - Single Points of Failure Nobody Designs For
Single Points of Failure Nobody Designs For
Phones were down.
Dispatchers were sweating.
And somehow… 9-1-1 was still working.
How is that possible?
In this episode of TiPS: Today in Public Safety, Fletch breaks down a real-world outage scenario that exposed something far more dangerous than a phone failure — single points of failure hiding in plain sight inside PSAP network designs.
Using the Jessamine County, Kentucky incident as a teaching moment, this episode explores why data paths survived when voice paths didn’t, why the Internet wasn’t the villain many expected, and how legacy assumptions about “redundancy” quietly fail when everything rides the same last mile.
In this episode, we cover:
Why phones can fail while NG911 data still flows
The difference between redundancy and diversity
How mesh networks reroute automatically when infrastructure breaks
Why the “last mile” is still public safety’s most common failure point
How platforms like RapidSOS can preserve situational awareness during outages
The hidden risk of assuming backup paths exist without validating them
This isn’t a vendor pitch. It’s a design reality check.
Because resilience isn’t something you buy — it’s something you design on purpose.
About TiPS
TiPS: Today in Public Safety is a short-form podcast and video series hosted by Fletch, a NENA-certified ENP, focused on the technology, policy, and real-world realities shaping emergency communications today.
No hype. No marketing spin. Just practical insight for the people who answer the call.
For more updates and insights, you can follow me on social media at @Fletch911, and you can visit 911TiPS.com for a complete archive of our previous episodes.
My blogs are available online at Fletch.TV, and my professional website is at Fletch911.com.
Copyright ©2026 Fletch911, LLC Media Productions
http://Fletch911.com
REMEMBER : NEW EPISODES are published each week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning - usually around 8AM on"Fletch's LinkedIn page [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/fletch911/ ]
For Fletch's Blogs, see his Wordpress Site at [ http://Fletch.TV ]
and you can follow him on Social Media (such as X) @Fletch911
For NG911 Consulting Services - you can reach Fletch through Fletch 911, LLC at http://Fletch911.com
View all episodes
By fletch911
5
33 ratings
Single Points of Failure Nobody Designs For
Phones were down.
Dispatchers were sweating.
And somehow… 9-1-1 was still working.
How is that possible?
In this episode of TiPS: Today in Public Safety, Fletch breaks down a real-world outage scenario that exposed something far more dangerous than a phone failure — single points of failure hiding in plain sight inside PSAP network designs.
Using the Jessamine County, Kentucky incident as a teaching moment, this episode explores why data paths survived when voice paths didn’t, why the Internet wasn’t the villain many expected, and how legacy assumptions about “redundancy” quietly fail when everything rides the same last mile.
In this episode, we cover:
Why phones can fail while NG911 data still flows
The difference between redundancy and diversity
How mesh networks reroute automatically when infrastructure breaks
Why the “last mile” is still public safety’s most common failure point
How platforms like RapidSOS can preserve situational awareness during outages
The hidden risk of assuming backup paths exist without validating them
This isn’t a vendor pitch. It’s a design reality check.
Because resilience isn’t something you buy — it’s something you design on purpose.
About TiPS
TiPS: Today in Public Safety is a short-form podcast and video series hosted by Fletch, a NENA-certified ENP, focused on the technology, policy, and real-world realities shaping emergency communications today.
No hype. No marketing spin. Just practical insight for the people who answer the call.
For more updates and insights, you can follow me on social media at @Fletch911, and you can visit 911TiPS.com for a complete archive of our previous episodes.
My blogs are available online at Fletch.TV, and my professional website is at Fletch911.com.
Copyright ©2026 Fletch911, LLC Media Productions
http://Fletch911.com
REMEMBER : NEW EPISODES are published each week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning - usually around 8AM on"Fletch's LinkedIn page [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/fletch911/ ]
For Fletch's Blogs, see his Wordpress Site at [ http://Fletch.TV ]
and you can follow him on Social Media (such as X) @Fletch911
For NG911 Consulting Services - you can reach Fletch through Fletch 911, LLC at http://Fletch911.com