topic Re: Early Warning Alert in Get Support

Early Warning Alert

Johan — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 09:45:21 GMT

Just wondering if anyone received the Early Warning Alert that went out yesterday in BC? I thought PM was supost to be part of this? I did not receive a notification.

Re: Early Warning Alert

specialK — Thu, 10 May 2018 16:49:56 GMT

what device do you have? I'm in BC using an Essential PH-1 and I got the alert.

Re: Early Warning Alert

Johan — Thu, 10 May 2018 16:59:14 GMT

I have an I-phone and have received notices from PM about the system before.

Re: Early Warning Alert

bryclops — Thu, 10 May 2018 17:04:48 GMT

I think read that your phone has to be LTE capable so if you had LTE turned off and were only using 3G that could be a reason why it didn't work.

I'm in Ontario and it did not work for me but Ontario had a lot of issues. I had 3 phones from different providers and none worked. I had Tbaytel on 3G, Speakout wireless with no data, and Public Mobile with LTE.

Re: Early Warning Alert

Barth — Thu, 10 May 2018 17:15:32 GMT

I received the alert on my Moto X, and my wife received the alert on her Moto G. Although, hers was the only phone in an office with a dozen phones to receive it.

I agree with @bryclops about the criteria.

An LTE-device like a smartphone (LTE is commonly referred to as “4G LTE”)
Wireless public alerting (WPA)-compatible
Connected to an LTE cellular network at the time the emergency alert is issued.

According to the CBC, there were glitches reported as emergency alert testing resumes across Canada.

Re: Early Warning Alert

Barth — Thu, 10 May 2018 17:18:11 GMT

And I found the reference to compatible devices on Koodo's website. It will be the same for PM.

https://www.koodomobile.com/help/wireless-public-alerting-compatible-devices

Re: Early Warning Alert

will13am — Thu, 10 May 2018 17:19:26 GMT

The Ontario test was a bit of a gong show. But then again, this is one of the reasons for having a test. You want to bugs to be identified in a test and not a real incident.

Re: Early Warning Alert

koimr1 — Thu, 10 May 2018 17:33:13 GMT

Although on Koodo and not PM (which I wouldn't think would matter as both use Telus infrastructure anyway), of three lines two got the alert and one did not. This is in BC.

Phones (all non-carrier, purchased from Staples):

ASUS Zenfone 3 Zoom, Maple Ridge - YES
ASUS Zenfone 3 Zoom, Coquitlam - YES
Acer Liquid Zest Plus, Maple Ridge - NOPE

The Acer was in an area with lots of other phones (high school) and I'm told only a few got the alert (the majority did not).

I would presume there will be more tests and they will work the kinks out.

Re: Early Warning Alert

CalgaryBen — Thu, 10 May 2018 20:26:00 GMT

@Johan wrote:
I have an I-phone and have received notices from PM about the system before.

What version of iOS do you have? (Mind you, the emergency alert system worked for me 2-3 years ago when I was in the U.S. and was on iOS 8 or so, so I don't imagine it's dependent on having the latest iOS 11+).

Note that these are not SMS notifications like the PM ones you get about billing, usage, etc., so receiving those is no indication about the likelihood of receiving emergency alerts.

Re: Early Warning Alert

David01 — Sat, 12 May 2018 12:57:56 GMT

There's been a lot of issues with it. It's a new concept, so like anything else, they'll have to work the bugs out. I'm sure it will be up and running soon 😀

Re: Early Warning Alert

Korth — Sat, 12 May 2018 13:42:44 GMT

Alert Ready uses SMS-CB, different from standard SMS protocols.

SMS-CB reception is intrinsically supported by the hardware on almost every SMS-capable device built after 2008, and all UMTS-capable devices, and all LTE-capable devices. You can reasonably assume your phone can receive these alerts unless it's at least a decade old or it's running (unregulated) aftermarket operating system firmware/software ... basically, your phone will receive Canadian SMS-CB alerts as long as it can communicate with any Canadian cellular network (unless you've deliberately changed the OEM defaults). Yes, your phone needs to be powered on and receiving signal (although it might receive strong broadcasts from outside normal signal range). No, your phone doesn't strictly require Cellular Data is active or enabled (unless Alert Ready broadcasts photos or attachments, lol).

SMS-CB transmission requires hardware on the network. Which is what the Big Three (or Four) are all installing, configuring, and testing.

Re: Early Warning Alert

Yiatiohi — Sat, 12 May 2018 16:46:45 GMT

I'm also with BELL and didn't receive anything.

@Johan wrote:
Just wondering if anyone received the Early Warning Alert that went out yesterday in BC? I thought PM was supost to be part of this? I did not receive a notification.

Re: Early Warning Alert

Alpaca — Mon, 14 May 2018 15:41:46 GMT

An Amber alert just came on for Ontario. Some of my friends on Rogers got it but I didn't. I'm on an iPhone 8 plus with LTE. I also didn't get anything during the test earlier in the month.

Re: Early Warning Alert

stonechucker — Mon, 14 May 2018 15:46:37 GMT

@Alpaca, it was actually a real emergency alert this time. I and others have already reported this.

Also, I didn't receive the alert last week, as my phone is unsupported - HOWEVER I got this alert.

Re: Early Warning Alert

computergeek541 — Mon, 14 May 2018 18:50:33 GMT

I know that no one wants to appear insensitive to an amber alert situation, and I certainly hope they find any child safe and sound, but I fear that for these alerts, annoying the crap out of people might be counter productive. Sending an alert out multiple times with a loud, ear-piercing sound and making any alert pop up on top fo everything else on your phone's screen is just going to condition people to immediately silence the tone every time it goes off and click on "ok" to dismiss the alert messages without even reading it.

Further, the Emergency Broadcast System alerts are actually overriding the user's phone settings to disable such messages and for the message popups.

I'm not actually actually against receivng any alert information, but it's the alert tone and the pop up that bothers me. Also, there are already apps on my phone that relay this type of information to me (weather apps).

Strangely, the test alerts were never received earlier in the week.

Re: Early Warning Alert

Yiatiohi — Mon, 14 May 2018 16:38:21 GMT

You don't want to appear insensitive and most likely don't think that you are -- BUT you are very insensitive -

Re: Early Warning Alert

Yiatiohi — Mon, 14 May 2018 16:40:12 GMT

Got it on my Bell servive but not PM service.

Re: Early Warning Alert

Alpaca — Mon, 14 May 2018 16:52:17 GMT

It's a legitimate concern and he/she stated they didn't want to appear insensitive as a way of acknowledging that alerts are important yet they have a concern about them.

There are times the loud alert would be received in sensitive situations like during a funeral, business meeting, in a hospital etc.

Re: Early Warning Alert

Yiatiohi — Mon, 14 May 2018 16:57:41 GMT

@Alpaca wrote:
It's a legitimate concern and he/she stated they didn't want to appear insensitive as a way of acknowledging that alerts are important yet they have a concern about them.

There are times the loud alert would be received in sensitive situations like during a funeral, business meeting, in a hospital etc.
OH ...I see so there are times when if there is an eminent catastrophy or one of your loved ones is in danger you would not like to be disturbed or disturb others.

Re: Early Warning Alert

stonechucker — Mon, 14 May 2018 17:12:46 GMT

I didn't hear the tone, my phone was connected to a Bluetooth Speaker, and I have it set to only send 'media data' to the speaker (nice option if you have it).

It did mute the speaker, but the alert was displayed on screen, and the phone vibrated for about 4 seconds.