New UK Emergency alert system.

[Ynot]

Been catching up on some of the news about this new alert system that'll be sent to mobiles in cases of emergencies...

Haven't yet found anything to suggest whether alerts will be UK wide regardless of the location of any specific incident (eg, not much point messaging Londoners about flooding in North Yorkshire...). And the potential impact on our events industry of alerts sounding during an event is perhaps something to think on... Especially if it IS nationwide...

The test on 23rd April (A Sunday) is set for early evening - no definite time I've found so far - which means that any one-off specials at venues could well be disrupted for ten secs or so for the sirens blaring on any devices that are still switched on (even if their muted) so suggest everyone who might have a show that night announces the test pre-show to make sure patrons (and cast/crew/staff...) turn their phones OFF...

 

[kerry davies]

Hmmmm? This help?  

Quote

You can opt out of the system in your phone’s settings, just search for “emergency alerts”, and turn off ‘severe alerts’ and ‘extreme alerts’. You will not receive alerts if your device is turned off or in airplane mode. However, these alerts are potentially life-saving so we recommend you keep them switched on.

If there is anything worthy of an alert here in Mid Wales 20 metres above the river and 96 metres above the sea I am fairly sure I don't wish to know there is a meteorite on it's way.

E2A, yes they are UK wide. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by kerry davies

[J Pearce]

I guess it’d be nice to have time for a dram before nuclear oblivion.

[alistermorton]

Cue the "Not the nine o'clock news" sketch.

[DrV]

This is a link to the BBC news item about it.

It specifically says that the alerts will only be to a restricted area. It is the system which is to be rolled out nation wide

[QUOTE]...when an alert is triggered, all cell towers in a defined area will broadcast it, allowing the message to reach an area the size of an electoral ward.[/QUOTE]

[Andrew C]

20 hours ago, DrV said:

...when an alert is triggered, all cell towers in a defined area will broadcast it, allowing the message to reach an area the size of an electoral ward.

EMERGENCY - YOUR ELECTION IS FAVOURING SOMEONE WE DON'T LIKE.  TURN OFF YOUR TV AND VOTE FOR US!

[Bryson]

I hope they do a better job of implementing this than they did in Canada.  Here, for some reason, they chose not to implement different categories of alert, so every alert sent through the system is at the maximum level.  That means 3am wakeups to sirens from your phone (that overrides the silent setting) for every missing child alert.  The same noise that would accompany an incoming nuke.  It’s not good for the blood pressure.

[DrV]

It's a government I.T. project. What could possibly go wrong...?

[callumb]

On 3/21/2023 at 3:45 PM, DrV said:

This is a link to the BBC news item about it.

"Emergency alerts work on all 4G and 5G phone networks and will not include older "non-smart" phones, the government said."

So people who are "older" who will most likely not have a smart phone will not get the alert! There's the pit fall of a classic government half assed job. 👏

[themadhippy]

some call it a half assed job,others call it saving money on developing it to work with something that will at the most only be around for another 10 years,the 3g network that is,not the elderly.

Edited March 22, 2023 by themadhippy

[GaryNattrass]

Brought to you by those nice people that did track and trace plus G4s! 

I also saw that you now need a photo ID card to vote these days so they got that one through the back door too and no doubt have bought all the phone numbers from Tik Tok and Meta (facebook)

 

[sleah]

2 hours ago, callumb said:

"Emergency alerts work on all 4G and 5G phone networks and will not include older "non-smart" phones, the government said."

So people who are "older" who will most likely not have a smart phone will not get the alert! There's the pit fall of a classic government half assed job. 👏

Despite living in an area with alegedly good coverage of all the "G"'s, I often can ONLY get 3G which will be exciting once it's switched off.

Is it possible to have a system that works across all "G"'s? Genuine question, I know sod all about how these alerts work.

[adamburgess]

Strangely - Had one in Dubai for the first time in ages yesterday, because it was raining (actual windows also available).

Sounded quite clangorous, glorious, and musical with the 100 phones around me all coming in with a full whack 'BONG' within a couple of seconds of each other!
Like a sci-fi church bell call in 360º surround.

They brought it in a few years ago. Not too obtrusive, usually. It was used for curfews and the like during a recent plague.

[the kid]

eh go old school 

https://www.krisinformation.se/en/finding-help-and-services/emergency-warning

if you have the official 112 app you can get local alerts, invariably useless, but one time I got an alarm to a house fire, about 5 mins before the services arrived - thankfully it was a bin fire but still.

[ANDYLASER]

In certain parts of the country, the local McDonalds getting hit by a rogue meteorite would be classsed as a disaster. 🙂