Public emergency alerts by text in the UK

[andyoxon]

Nothing here on Android phone with 'emergency alerts' turned on.  Three mobile network.

[rafletcher]

WTF with an American voice for the message?

I assume it's just your OS's default text-to-speech voice.  The messages themselves are pure text, but presumably someone thought it was a good idea for the phone to read it out (which is the sort of accessibility you want in an emergency).

And I'd recently turned off "read out notifications" as it was irritating me when listening with my airpods. So presumably why I got no spoken alert.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

It's pretty easy to repair a downed power line.  It's basically impossible to repair dozens of them on the same day when half the roads are blocked by trees or flooding - and you don't know which half because communications are a mess.

Made worse by infrastructure that's 50 years old, so spares are no longer available to make a quick repair, and whole sections have to be rebuilt. The engineers drafted in from other regions had never seen anything like it - so much obsolete equipment. And miles of rotten wooden poles.

In Britain, the wooden poles are fixed directly into the ground. In some countries, they're mounted on short concrete bases. I don't know how effective this is but I presume the intention is to stop them rotting from the ground up.

More likely it's to do with whether the ground is stable and conducive to having poles poked into it, but some countries do seem to eschew wood in favour of concrete for poles.

French poles are concrete and have the date of casting impressed.  Cycling through France in the 2010s I spotted one dated 1939.  It looked in good condition under the moss and lichen. It's probably still there!

[sg37409]

I read the contract for the alert was awarded to Fujitsu who subcontracted it to infosys.

[Regulator]

Nothing here on Android phone with 'emergency alerts' turned on.  Three mobile network.

Apparently there were widespread issues with Three/3.  Those provider running on the O2 network tended to get the message earlier than expected at 14:59.

Government now saying that it was supposed to be "about 15:00"... 

[Canardly]

So that will be about a four minute  warning then?

[Lightning Phil]

I read the contract for the alert was awarded to Fujitsu who subcontracted it to infosys.

Who subtracted it to Alicia in playgroup class 1b, which is why it didn’t happen on millions of phones.

[Beardy]

It was a test to highlight any potential issues. I’d say it was successful in its objective.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

We always used to use beacons and church bells.  Why the need for change?

[Regulator]

It's worth noting that in the UK the test is only sent to 4G and 5G phones.  Millions of people still use 3G phones, which is why many of them won't have got the test message.

Phones also have to be connected to a 4G or 5G network tower at the time the message is broadcast.  If they're turned off, in airplane mode, or operating over a wireless network they won't get the message (even if they later connect to a 4G or 5G network tower).  It's not like a text message.

[barakta]

We always used to use beacons and church bells.  Why the need for change?

Some of us are deaf and wouldn't hear those. Lots of oral history of deaf people missing out.

It's another option and probably isn't taking away things like TV and radio.

Fewer full time staffed churches than there used to be, and I suspect church bell and siren systems had their reliability issues too.

[rogerzilla]

We always used to use beacons and church bells.  Why the need for change?

There were literally thousands of people out there yesterday showing that Philippides' method would still work.

[Regulator]

We always used to use beacons and church bells.  Why the need for change?

Some of us are deaf and wouldn't hear those. Lots of oral history of deaf people missing out.

It's another option and probably isn't taking away things like TV and radio.

Fewer full time staffed churches than there used to be, and I suspect church bell and siren systems had their reliability issues too.

In NZ, an air raid siren was used as the method of summoning the local volunteer fire brigade.  I slept through it (and the sirens of the fire engines right outside my window).

[barakta]

My phone made the steamtrain choo choo noise like Kim's test-tests had done. I can't remember if it vibrated or not as I was busy babysitting a BHPC silly cycling racing computer at the time and worrying about a first aid request which had gone out (not needed, person was OK).

It showed the message in text. I clicked OK. I have a dual sim phone with GiffGaff and Three.

Phone asked if I wanted to receive future messages which I said 'yes' to as I'm deaf and won't hear sirens and don't use broadcast TV/Radio.

I think it has been interesting seeing how this worked. Hopefully the Three issues will be sorted out.

Not using 3G is a bit of a fail, as is requiring updates to security in the last ??TimePeriod (but probably necessary to implement the receiving software systems).

I suspect some variability in timing is down to cellular network and how they do it. I skimread a technical post on Twitter about why the Three network failed and it seems that Three only broadcast the alert once, whereas other networks broadcast it continuously for 15-20 mins because not all phones pick up on 1st broadcast, which might explain some of that discrepancy.

Other variations will be iOS vs Android phones and then into different OS versions and settings etc.

[Tim Hall]

My understanding is that as 3G is on its way out (reports vary as to when it finally goes) it was decided not to include 3G in the scheme.

My other understanding is that there is a chunk of the population who think 3G and mobile network 3 mean the same thing.

[Basil]

My other understanding is that there is a chunk of the population who think 3G and mobile network 3 mean the same thing.

Oh. In that case, I'm on EEg. 

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Can still remember the sirens they used in Cyprus when curfews started to be implemented. They used the same devices as for WW2 Air Raid warnings. I think a lot of people got the heebie-jeebies hearing those again, my mother included.

[ian]

Surely the point of testing is, erm, to test it. A lot of people seem to be betting their bonnets infested with bees on the matter.

I'm disappointed to not get it, but I was at the musical theatre under a train arch and deprived of signal, and if that weren't enough, a chirpy gent on the stage reminded us to switch our bloody phones off.

[rafletcher]

It's worth noting that in the UK the test is only sent to 4G and 5G phones.  Millions of people still use 3G phones, which is why many of them won't have got the test message.

Phones also have to be connected to a 4G or 5G network tower at the time the message is broadcast.  If they're turned off, in airplane mode, or operating over a wireless network they won't get the message (even if they later connect to a 4G or 5G network tower).  It's not like a text message.

You’re incorrect re the WiFi connection, both our phones were connected to the home WiFi (but also showing the usual 1 bar network connection) and both sounded the alarm.

[Tim Hall]

It's worth noting that in the UK the test is only sent to 4G and 5G phones.  Millions of people still use 3G phones, which is why many of them won't have got the test message.

Phones also have to be connected to a 4G or 5G network tower at the time the message is broadcast.  If they're turned off, in airplane mode, or operating over a wireless network they won't get the message (even if they later connect to a 4G or 5G network tower).  It's not like a text message.

You’re incorrect re the WiFi connection, both our phones were connected to the home WiFi (but also showing the usual 1 bar network connection) and both sounded the alarm.

Surely if you're showing 1 bar of network connection, you're connected to the network. So the message arrives that way.

[rafletcher]

It's worth noting that in the UK the test is only sent to 4G and 5G phones.  Millions of people still use 3G phones, which is why many of them won't have got the test message.

Phones also have to be connected to a 4G or 5G network tower at the time the message is broadcast.  If they're turned off, in airplane mode, or operating over a wireless network they won't get the message (even if they later connect to a 4G or 5G network tower).  It's not like a text message.

You’re incorrect re the WiFi connection, both our phones were connected to the home WiFi (but also showing the usual 1 bar network connection) and both sounded the alarm.

Surely if you're showing 1 bar of network connection, you're connected to the network. So the message arrives that way.

Yep, my point was being connected to WiFi doesn’t in itself prevent the alert, which is what I read into Reg’s statement. Obviously, if the phone was only on WiFi it wouldn’t get the alerts.

[Feanor]

It's worth noting that in the UK the test is only sent to 4G and 5G phones.  Millions of people still use 3G phones, which is why many of them won't have got the test message.

Phones also have to be connected to a 4G or 5G network tower at the time the message is broadcast.  If they're turned off, in airplane mode, or operating over a wireless network they won't get the message (even if they later connect to a 4G or 5G network tower).  It's not like a text message.

You’re incorrect re the WiFi connection, both our phones were connected to the home WiFi (but also showing the usual 1 bar network connection) and both sounded the alarm.

Surely if you're showing 1 bar of network connection, you're connected to the network. So the message arrives that way.

Yep, my point was being connected to WiFi doesn’t in itself prevent the alert, which is what I read into Reg’s statement. Obviously, if the phone was only on WiFi it wouldn’t get the alerts.

I think he's talking about 'WiFi Calling', which is a mode where the phone connects to the mobile service provider over WiFi and the Internet where there is no cellular service available. The phone can make and receive calls over a WiFi connection back to the cellular provider exactly as if it were on the cellular connection, if both they and the phone support that.

[Pingu]

...In NZ, an air raid siren was used as the method of summoning the local volunteer fire brigade.  I slept through it (and the sirens of the fire engines right outside my window).

I did that one night in NZ, but I was rather jet-lagged at the time.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Surely the point of testing is, erm, to test it. A lot of people seem to be betting their bonnets infested with bees on the matter.

I'm disappointed to not get it, but I was at the musical theatre under a train arch and deprived of signal, and if that weren't enough, a chirpy gent on the stage reminded us to switch our bloody phones off.

I'm trying to think of any event I have experienced in recent memory where such a warning might have been useful.  It would have been nice to have known in advance of arrival when and where the M25 had started to melt a few years ago.  It was chaotic and people were walking around the stationary traffic asking if anyone knew what was going on. If a nuclear strike is imminent, I guess I could head for the Cold War shelter a couple of miles away(it's a historic monument, so I'd need to pay at the door), or hide under the stairs. Of course some people have been flooded out of their homes, but I'd like to hear how a phone alert would improve their situation in reality. During the Irish troubles I got used to evacuations, etc.

The big problem is getting a message over in such a way as to avoid a panic. I cannot imagine that our current regime is remotely, sufficiently competent to achieve any such thing.  In reality the only way to prepare people for emergencies is practice drills, like fire drills and other evacuation scenarios and it can only be done by competent people on site.  Just watching the Sudan situation proves that.

In York they install anti-terrorist barriers to control entry and exit to streets. If there was any kind of panicked reaction by people in those areas and they attempted to pass the barriers in an undisciplined manner, people could easily be crushed. They aren't that easy to get through anyway.

If the whole country is under threat then mass gatherings are simply a bad idea. Having a public emergency alert isn't going to compensate for that.

So what is it for?

[Pingu]

So what is it for?

Perhaps Rish! could tell us.