Cellular Telephone

Four national companies provide service plans under the cellular telephone service contract. The negotiated plans are designed to cover the state's normal requirements for cellular service and equipment at competitively attractive rates. Coverage with these plans ranges from basic emergency-only service to national coverage for up to 6,000 minutes per month of usage.

All service providers include a minimum one-year parts and labor warranty on phone devices.

Features

• Free night and weekend calling
• Voicemail
• Three-way calling
• Call waiting
• Call forwarding
• Caller ID
• Free nationwide long distance
• Broadband access for smartphone devices
• Free intra-band mobile-to-mobile calling

AT&T FirstNet

The AT&T FirstNet program was developed in coordination with the federal government to provide effective cellular solutions for first responders, regardless of their location at the time of communication. FirstNet also assists authorized public safety agencies, authorized affiliated businesses and personnel who provide public safety services. In addition to providing plans for administrative and technical staff across the state, FirstNet is available as part of the AT&T cellular service offering and to any non-AT&T cellular service customer who wants to subscribe to it.

For more information, see the AT&T FirstNet Business Service Guide.

Benefits

A portfolio of low-cost cellular telephone plans available to best meet the needs of how you conduct business.

Request Process

• Reviewing, selection and subscription to any of the cellular services plans is completed by the customer through a self-service web portal provided by each authorized vendor. View websites and contact information for government contract cellular telephone vendors.

Authorization

• Service requests that incur a cost to the agency will typically require approval from the requesting agency’s CIO, financial officer or manager, depending upon your agency's requirements. 
• Any staff with access to the NCDIT Service Portal may engage the team for support or information.

Requirements & Customer Responsibility

Expected Delivery

Customers

• In addition to the direct vendor cost, NCDIT charges an administrative fee for contract management and billing services. The rates charged by the individual service providers include all the required NCDIT administrative fees. Billing is monthly and is provided directly to the customer. 
• All pricing can be viewed on the vendors' websites. The pricing on the vendors' websites does not include regulatory fees and taxes. Customers should review charges quarterly to check for correct user accounts and excessive use.
• Approved rates for this service are published in the NCDIT Rate Schedule.
   

View NCDIT Rate Schedule

Discounts

The costs associated with the pricing of service plans, features, equipment and accessories are predicated upon discounts off the original pricing, plus administrative fees. The discounting schedule of the authorized vendors is outlined in the following table.

 
International Calling

There is not a specific per-minute rate for international calls. The cost is the same as the contracted vendor's FCC-approved tariff rate. The cost is based on factors such as the rate to the country called, the length of the call and the rate for the time of day the call is placed.

The current technologies employed in the Cellular Telephone Service contract are CDMA, GSM and IDEN technology platforms. Verizon, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular utilize CDMA technology. T-Mobile also uses the IDEN technology in its voice and data services. AT&T and Verizon's 5G/4G/Long-Term Evolution (LTE) employs the GSM platform.

The standard data rates associated with the varying cellular services range from 1xRTT to EVDO Rev A. This equates to 60-80 kbps to 450-800 Kbps throughput for both up and down link speeds on a CDMA platform. On the GSM platform, the wireless standard used ranges between EDGE and HSDPA, which equates to data speed throughput of 60 kbps to 7.2 Mbps. 5G/4G technology is currently delivering 3-6 Mbps uplink and 10+ Mbps downlink, with higher data rates planned. The 5G/4G standards will eventually displace some landline data services.

General Policies

Please carefully read the following policies to ensure you are familiar with the general policies and order processes for obtaining cellular services and accessories under the new contract agreement.

• Obtaining information on cellular services is implemented under a cellular telephone contract, which involves the use of secure websites maintained by the vendors on the state's contract. These secure websites provide all the information pertaining to the state contract for their vendors.
• To ensure proper service plan and pricing selection, all orders must be placed through the vendors' secure websites. Customers can:
  • Select one of the vendors on the state contract for information and to place orders.
  • Provision services, including adding, disconnecting, changing service plans and porting services.
  • Purchase equipment and accessories.
• Program plans and pricing are subject to change at any time.
• Shipping is available by standard mail delivery and is free on board to any location within North Carolina.
• Service providers will complete delivery within five consecutive calendar days after placing an order through the vendor's website.
• If repairs are required during the equipment warranty, and the unit will be out of service for more than 48 hours, a loaner unit of similar type and function will be provided until repairs can be accomplished. Please refer to the vendors' websites for further instructions.

Training & Help 

None

Other Related Links

• AT&T FirstNet Business Service Guide
• Cellular Telephone Vendors

Related NCDIT Services

Not available