Had my phone ping one of these alerts while in California, warning of a possible child abduction complete with car description and license plate.
Surely it's worth leaving on to catch a nonce?
Motorway signs have been used to tell people to switch their radios on and to tell drivers not to enter London.
The time delay would be no different.
Phone notification would be helpful to those not in a vehicle or on the motorway yet.
Although not going to London isn’t bad advice in general.
Had my phone ping one of these alerts while in California, warning of a possible child abduction complete with car description and license plate.
Surely it’s worth leaving on to catch a nonce?
Well they would say that wouldn't they. Probably just trying to track their donut delivery.
Maybe it’s only certain provinces but I’ve heard it loads
I was at a conference in London when the Westminster terrorist attack happened. We knew within minutes of the event.
By their nature these things vary so you can't Extrapolate from a sample size of one. I was in London for the 7/7 and failed 21/7 bomb attacks. We were watching the news unfolding on TV in the office whilst friends and colleagues, unaware were getting on tubes and buses. We were furiously and mostly unsuccessfully trying to phone them to tell them to keep away from public transport, when it was still unclear if all the perpetrators were accounted for. This system would have been useful then. It might be 10 or 20 years until there is a good reason to use it, or it might (hopefully) be never. But for such a simple thing to have have tucked away just in case, why wouldn't you? Emergency planning is often about considering very low likelihood, but high consequence events. The people moaning about this would probably be the first to ask why it wasn't done and demanding enquiries if it could have saved lives in some unforeseen future event.
I'm failing to understand why people are getting upset when it's easy to turn off, and also failing to understand how people are only just hearing about it - it's been rumbling in the press and social media for a couple of weeks
If phones start going off in people's cars while they are driving down the motorway I suspect there'll soon be more than one major incident to deal with.
Regards terrorism, well if they have knowledge of an imminent event then I’m sure we would hear through the normal channels.
Thats the point though - this can be detailed alert you can direct to everyone in a particular location, all at once, immediately. Don't think in terms of the 1980s and the IRA having a gentlemanly agreement to phone in warnings to the authorities - Imagine how useful an alert like this would have been during the Borough Market attacks for instance - to be able to alert people and direct them to safety with current information in real time.
People saying “what’s the point in the UK?” have obviously never worked in a shop where phones have to be on silent and a company playlist is the the only means of listening to anything. An emergency alert is the first I would know if something happened where I work.
If phones start going off in people’s cars while they are driving down the motorway I suspect there’ll soon be more than one major incident to deal with.
How do you work that out?
How do you work that out?
Whaterbouterry at a guess.
Going off on a tangent but if your phone sounded a specific emergency alarm one would think you'd pull over to check what's going on rather than reading the text whilst driving, and causing a crash..
Or have a passenger check your phone for you,
Or they'd get thier own alert on thier own phone.
Or switch from your billy joels greatest hits CD and put the news on the radio.
It seems that it is easy to dismiss it when it sounds. Certainly easier than going into Settings on your phone. That being the case, I'm intrigued to see if/how it works. I assume that actual alerts can be regionally focussed rather than just national-scale events? I could see it being used in some flooding cases but I do hope it's not controlled by the same folk who do the "weather forecast" for the Daily Mirror 🤣
I assume that actual alerts can be regionally focussed rather than just national-scale events? I could see it being used in some flooding cases but I do hope it’s not controlled by the same folk who do the “weather forecast” for the Daily Mirror
Heheh!
Yes I'd think so, no reason they can't specify certain geo-locations based on cell towers etc?
I assume that actual alerts can be regionally focussed rather than just national-scale events?
Think so. They are broadcast to all devices connected to a mobile cell, so in theory, the most granular it can be is a single mobile tower. Dunno if the system behind the scenes can work at the level, though.
I thought the most critical alerts couldn't be turned off. Presidential alerts in the US. Guess we'll find out in a min.
Yes I’d think so, no reason they can’t specify certain geo-locations based on cell towers etc?
Interview I heard yesterday it was specific to phones linked to a mast?
well, that was unpleasant
Well that was exciting
Worked rather well, I enjoyed that. Was just getting off my bike.
Oh god I take it all back that was horrific.
I have to admit it made me jump ....
Worked well! Still made me jump even though I'd read the thread 👍
Is that it?
<Waits for 5G body upgrade to kick in>
please hand your licence back immediately if [i]that[/i] is going to cause you to crash your car 😂If phones start going off in people’s cars while they are driving down the motorway I suspect there’ll soon be more than one major incident to deal with.
Only one in three phones went off here. Anyone else not get it?
Not had it yet.
Nobody in our house has, the signal is pretty poor here TBF
Eldest is facetiming someone about 3 miles away who has.
Clearly ours is the neighborhood that gets sacrificed in the apocalypse...
Only the chosen people will survive the coming apocalypse. If your phone didn't go off, there must be a reason.
Mine has sat silently on charge.
So, doesn't work if you're on WiFi calling then? None of the 3 phones here went off. Smarty, Three and O2.
After switching it off on two phones, one of them still did the alert.
Why the America voice?
That was dramatic!
Seems to be a bit of a lag between phone networks - I'm on O2 and mine went off first, colleagues on Vodafone got theirs a minute or so later.
Well I don't know what the alert said because I got rid before I actually read it.
Wife with the same phone but on smarty didn't go off and her setting should allow it.
Yep neither of my girls iPhones went off but my wife’s did and so did her work phone. Mine was switched off.
They hadnt touched any settings
Jeez, I've never been even slightly tempted to call anyone a 'snowflake' before, but some of you are testing me to the limit! How do you cope outside the front door? ❄️ 😂
Maybe they're staggering areas?
Didn't get it on my phone, my girlfriend did. Didn't hear the voice that some people seem to be referring to though?
Oh well, on with the day.
Only one in three phones went off here. Anyone else not get it?
You're the lucky one. The other 2 must be sent off for ritual sacrifice to our new lizard overlords.
It does work on wifi calling but obviously wont work if you have no cell phone signal. Mine was 60 seconds early,
One iphone on o2 went off at 14.59, other iPhone on three hasn’t gone off.
Hmmm, so as an emergency broadcast system it's a bit limited.
Who do we tell of we didn't get the test warning?
Personal phone went off. Work one didn't.
My wife's work one didn't either (she's NHS, I'm police). Both on EE.
Went off a minute or two early for me. Story of my life.
15.11 and silence on our 2 phones
Only the chosen people will survive the coming apocalypse. If your phone didn’t go off, there must be a reason
I’m on my way to the secure location now
Who do we tell of we didn’t get the test warning?]
Gobuchul. 🙂
