Canada’s Alert Ready + Test Alert Schedules

[Brooke_C]

Update: To view the alert schedule for your province or territory please click here. 

Hey Community,

We wanted to let you know about an upcoming SMS you will receive regarding Alert Ready. Alert Ready will broadcast emergency alerts to inform you of critical or potentially life-threatening situations that require immediate attention to keep you and your family safe. As of April 6, 2018, Canada’s Alert Ready service will be available to compatible mobile devices. To learn more about the Alert Ready service and what devices are supported, visit alertready.ca.

-Public Mobile Community Team

[srlawren]

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@CalgaryBen wrote:

Just a quick heads-up that there's another Public Awareness Test (see https://www.alertready.ca/#alerts) planned for Wednesday (November 28) at 1:55PM local time!

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@CalgaryBen weridly, Koodo sent me a test last Wednesday. 

Must have been an "oopsy"

[jp2]

Nice that the compatibility checker has been updated although it looks like a lot of phones are not compatible to receive the alert. 

[CalgaryBen]

Just a quick heads-up that there's another Public Awareness Test (see https://www.alertready.ca/#alerts) planned for Wednesday (November 28) at 1:55PM local time!

[RobertQc]

@jp2

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@jp2 wrote:

Had an actual emergency alert in my area today but still didn't receive it on my mobile 

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this is it

[jp2]

Had an actual emergency alert in my area today but still didn't receive it on my mobile 

[MoreYummy]

@JP nothing you can dream of.

[jp2]

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@JL9 wrote:

Guess this will all be sorted out???

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You can only hope 

[JL9]

Guess this will all be sorted out???

[dougc]

Of course,  did not hear it on my basic AlcatelOneTouchA392A clamshell phone,   but it did sound off,  on my supposedly off-line OnStar system in the 2008 Saturn !!

doug c

[Someone_here]

Never received it, but heard it at the radio today.

[makkahn28]

I finally received Alert, and it at least has sound potential

[stonechucker]

@dna2016, funny, these are all places I would shut my phone right off.

The problem with the simple txt message, not everyone subscribes to txts.  I hate the broadcasts on TV as they disrupt my viewing, and I hate them on the radio also.  I suppose if they become invasive enough, I may get rid of cellular service.  I do not need my cellular phone, however, it does make contacting others easier.

[Korth]

Third-party SMS apps can override these settings with their own.  Especially if you root/jailbreak your device and clean/configure things the way you want them to be (instead of leaving things the way the OEM/carrier wanted them to be).

Modded firmware/OS can provide more user control as well.

[dna2016]

@computergeek541

oh ya, completely ignored my phone settings.  I had no vibrate on, and it was on silent, and i'm referring to all sound options on my phone (i.e. ring, text, media, etc..) all on silent mode.  At work I make sure nothing goes off.  And then this Armageddon Alert goes off and I almost fall out my seat because I've never heard my phone make that kind of noise before.  

Just insane man.  Hopefully enough people complain about this and they make a change.  

[computergeek541]

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@stonechucker wrote:

@Tedward, the only way to block them, is to turn off your device.

If your device is on, the system is designed to override mutes and do not disturbs.

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Some people are in professions that make it so that they are not allowed to turn their phones off.

I could also see this being a problem if you are having some type of day surgery performed where you are awake.  Sometimes, you're allowed to listen to music while you are having minor procedures done (dental comes to mind) and it would not be good if this things starts going off.

[computergeek541]

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@dna2016 wrote:

So i'm just trying to picture it now.  At an orchestral performance, child's recital, library, funeral, musical performance, movie theatre, basically any where you are required to be quiet and make sure your phone is on silent.  An amber alert goes off and 80% of the audience's phones are ringing and vibrating like crazy.  Ya i don't see how that's not goiong to be a distraction.  

It should be a simple text message with no phone setting interruption.  Not this Armageddon Alert as if Thanos has landed on earth type of thing that happened to me today.  Just overkill if you ask me. 

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So, it really does ignore your phone's sound level settings? Wow, just wow.

[computergeek541]

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@Tedward wrote:

This is ridiculous.  First alarm - could not read as I was driving, Second alarm - could not read as I am still driving (10 mins later).  First was english version something about missing child in other part of province (not even close to where I live) as it was gone before I could read it all. Second alarm - guess french version.  Third alarm - child found 

If we are going to get two alarms (english & french) for every thing that happens, even if not close to my area - how do I turn it off as it could be more dangerous for distractive driving.

I would welcome it if in my area but not a few thousand miles away.

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The short answer is that you can't turn this off.

Phones do have a setting to disable such alert messages but Canada's emergency broadcast system alert system ignores these settings.

[computergeek541]

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@GreatCanadian wrote:

@911onFire in a previous post you make a good point. "......if they blast out these alerts too frequently for far away events, people might start ignoring them, and the importance of these alerts might get degraded." That would be counterproductive to the purpose of the alerts. And these "celebrity" alerts are just abuse of the system. Silliness. The amber alerts wouldn't be so intrusive if this other garbage was not sent. I'll accept the amber alerts any day.

GC

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I said this very same thing about how the alerts are literally blasted and about the frequency of them will just condition people to ignore them.  I do not believe that these alerts should be ignoring the phone's settings about disabling these alerts, and I am not a fan of the alert sound, or it potentially overriding someone's mute/DND settings. 

[dna2016]

So i'm just trying to picture it now.  At an orchestral performance, child's recital, library, funeral, musical performance, movie theatre, basically any where you are required to be quiet and make sure your phone is on silent.  An amber alert goes off and 80% of the audience's phones are ringing and vibrating like crazy.  Ya i don't see how that's not goiong to be a distraction.  

It should be a simple text message with no phone setting interruption.  Not this Armageddon Alert as if Thanos has landed on earth type of thing that happened to me today.  Just overkill if you ask me. 

[dna2016]

@stonechucker  ya that's very annoying.  Was in the middle of work and I hear this random vibration and noise (when I work I always have my phone on silent with no vibrate).  Really makes you think if you have any control at all since they can easily override the settings that you applied on your own personal device.

[stonechucker]

@Tedward, the only way to block them, is to turn off your device.

If your device is on, the system is designed to override mutes and do not disturbs.

[Tedward]

This is ridiculous.  First alarm - could not read as I was driving, Second alarm - could not read as I am still driving (10 mins later).  First was english version something about missing child in other part of province (not even close to where I live) as it was gone before I could read it all. Second alarm - guess french version.  Third alarm - child found 

If we are going to get two alarms (english & french) for every thing that happens, even if not close to my area - how do I turn it off as it could be more dangerous for distractive driving.

I would welcome it if in my area but not a few thousand miles away.

[stonechucker]

Well, now the alerts are coming out on the phones (and radio) that the child has been found.  Waiting for the same message, an francais aussi!

[GreatCanadian]

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@stonechucker wrote:

@GreatCanadian, well I don't know where the other poster got his celebrity birth alert, but I hope it wasn't via this system.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

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I would think you are correct. Not much of a system if I get alerted every time another Kardashian is seeking attention.

GC

[Wonder_why]

Alert cancel 

[GreatCanadian]

I believe that would depend on how long it took to issue the alert. If an amber alert isn't issued until 12 hours after a child's disappearance (yeah, I know that's stretching it), that child could be 700 miles from where he/she was abducted. I understand where you're coming from, and why too many alerts would be intrusive. For me, I'm ok with amber alerts no matter how far away. But I certainly don't care about a tornado alert in Ontario when I'm in Newfoundland.

GC

[andrewroth]

In the long term, it would actually be in the best interest of everyone (including this child) to make obstrusive alerts like this only happen if they're close by -- otherwise, people will rightly ignore them.  Btw, I read on twitter this child has been found now.

[stonechucker]

@GreatCanadian, well I don't know where the other poster got his celebrity birth alert, but I hope it wasn't via this system.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

[GreatCanadian]

@911onFire in a previous post you make a good point. "......if they blast out these alerts too frequently for far away events, people might start ignoring them, and the importance of these alerts might get degraded." That would be counterproductive to the purpose of the alerts. And these "celebrity" alerts are just abuse of the system. Silliness. The amber alerts wouldn't be so intrusive if this other garbage was not sent. I'll accept the amber alerts any day.

GC

[stonechucker]

Oh for Pete's Sake, I didn't even know the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge were having a third baby until after it happened.