UK Emergency Alert Tests

[Ediswan]

“Android 11 or later”

How emergency alerts work

Emergency alerts are broadcast from mobile phone masts. Find out if your phone or tablet can receive alerts.

www.gov.uk

That article also says:

If you have an earlier version of Android, you may still be able to receive alerts. To check, search your device settings for ‘emergency alerts’.

 

[315801]

I think we should be able to select the sound our devices make for these alerts, I say this because even though my hearing is good as is that of a lot of people, there may be people who's hearing is very sensitive and the sound could possibly be quite piercing and hurt their ears.

I hope allowing us to select a sound ourselves will be something the government could consider

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Received loud and clear on all suitable phones in the house. Not as loud or annoying as I was expecting. I would have preferred a different accent for the spoken message.
The phone went back to working normally straight after, that is, without me having to cancel the alert message first.

Now I expect to never hear it again unless it really is a matter of life and death.

 

[gg1]

That article also says:

If you have an earlier version of Android, you may still be able to receive alerts. To check, search your device settings for ‘emergency alerts’.

Unfortunately that guidance is wrong.

Just checked, there is no option for activating emergency alerts in my device settings. Google gave the correct guidance which is to open your messaging app then amend the settings from there.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I was completely unaware this was happening... however a couple of weeks ago I started a new smart monitoring system for my Type One diabetes in which my phone bleeps very loudly if my blood sugar is too high or low. When I heard a similarly loud, but different tone it did startle me for a moment!

 

[PeterY]

Neither me or my friend got an alert. Neither of us have a "smart" phone. Am I worried.... not really

 

[Jamesrob637]

My phone did nothing however I had turned off all emergency alerts.

 

[Typhoon]

“Android 11 or later”

How emergency alerts work

Emergency alerts are broadcast from mobile phone masts. Find out if your phone or tablet can receive alerts.

www.gov.uk

That explains everything. Thanks.

We had a power outage sometime around then. Maybe that is the backup?

 

[Wearhead]

According to the BBC it went out on 4G and 5G only. Tough for large parts of Cumbria, the North Pennines, the Scottish Borders and most of the Highlands.
Fortunately nobody lives there.

 

[philosopher]

Received loud and clear on all suitable phones in the house. Not as loud or annoying as I was expecting. I would have preferred a different accent for the spoken message.
The phone went back to working normally straight after, that is, without me having to cancel the alert message first.

Now I expect to never hear it again unless it really is a matter of life and death.

Given it failed to appear on Three networked phones, I suspect there will be another test some point this year, so you probably will hear it again.

 

[birchesgreen]

What sort of a climax were you expecting?

To be honest i was expecting at least 6 nuclear strikes and a zombie apocalypse.

 

[RichJF]

Turned off the "emergency alerts" settings on my Android 11 phone. Remain in blissful, happy ignorance.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Got it at 1459, tone was very annoying and loud. From the few seconds a let it sound before cancelling it seemed like they just cribbed the US Emergency Alert System attention tone (which is designed to be unpleasant so as to attract attention):

It basically is an implementation of the US system as that's already on phones. A key difference is that the UK only uses two levels, in the US presidential alerts are a higher level and can't be disabled.

Received loud and clear on all suitable phones in the house. Not as loud or annoying as I was expecting. I would have preferred a different accent for the spoken message.
The phone went back to working normally straight after, that is, without me having to cancel the alert message first.

Now I expect to never hear it again unless it really is a matter of life and death.

Spoken message? I didn't get a spoken message.

 

[Snow1964]

Was visiting friends near Cardiff, went off at 14:59 with a message in Welsh, with an English message below which was only visible when scrolled down.

Heard some go off minute or two later.

 

[Senex]

Received loud and clear on all suitable phones in the house. Not as loud or annoying as I was expecting. I would have preferred a different accent for the spoken message.
The phone went back to working normally straight after, that is, without me having to cancel the alert message first.

Now I expect to never hear it again unless it really is a matter of life and death.

Clear but not particularly loud for me -- and almost a minute before 3 pm. Like you, I'd have preferred a different accent. If they deliberately wanted a non-English accent, why couldn't they have chosen a Scottish one (or Irish, as long as it was Dublin, not Belfast). Or did they just go for the cheapest US machine-speak?

 

[DEFarnes]

Spoken message? I didn't get a spoken message.

The spoken message is an option you have to turn on. For Android go to settings and then search wireless emergency alerts. It would use the default text to speech voice on your phone.

 

[najaB]

Spoken message? I didn't get a spoken message.

Nor did I. Perhaps it is a phone-specific thing, by which I mean that the phone reads out the text.

The spoken message is an option you have to turn on. For Android (go to settings and then search wireless emergency alerts.) It would use the default text to speech voice on your phone.

You were posting at the same time as me.

I thought as much. Which means that the "cheapest US machine-speak" is the fault of phone's owner, rather than the Government.

 

[brad465]

I was on a GWR service pulling into Reading when it happened, and almost all the carriage got it at 14:59. While there clearly are many improvements to be had, isn't the whole point of a test to find these faults and then they can be rectified?

 

[AM9]

To be honest i was expecting at least 6 nuclear strikes and a zombie apocalypse.

OK, so your criticism that the alert test was an anticlimax wasn't serious?

 

[najaB]

While there clearly are many improvements to be had, isn't the whole point of a test to find these faults and then they can be rectified?

Indeed, that is the point.

I was on a GWR service pulling into Reading when it happened, and almost all the carriage got it at 14:59.

For what it's worth, I don't know that I would consider receiving the alert a minute before/after the time it was supposed to have been sent as a fault. It could just as easily be that the person who pushed the button was a little eager.

 

[birchesgreen]

OK, so your criticism that the alert test was an anticlimax wasn't serious?

Why are you asking me, it was someone else who said it was an anti-climax.

 

[Ediswan]

The spoken message is an option you have to turn on. For Android go to settings and then search wireless emergency alerts. It would use the default text to speech voice on your phone.

This looks like another aspect where behaviour may vary. I got the spoken message. I don't have a speech-specfic option.

 

[Steddenm]

According to a news report on ITV News some 3 customers didn't get the alert, others got it twice or three times, not all devices synced at the same time to get the alert (hence the alarms going at the Crucible at odd times), and people in crowded areas didn't hear it.

It came through on my phone (S23 Ultra) but my Galaxy Watch (also on the 4G network) didn't get it, nor did my Samsung tablet which has 5G capability and was connected to the network at the time.

Work colleagues are saying that they didn't get it when connected to WiFi in the building but did as soon as the WiFi came off.

I'm in Belfast at the moment and quite impressed that roaming handsets (I live in RoI) also received the message, however those on UK SIM cards in the RoI didn't get the alert or those on the IoM or Channel Islands

 

[daveo]

What sort of a climax were you expecting?

a very loud siren, not a barely audible bleeping - and the phone was right next to me!

 

[Techniquest]

I didn't get the alert, I'd even forgot it was to happen. I also forgot it was St George's Day too!

 

[AM9]

a very loud siren, not a barely audible bleeping - and the phone was right next to me!

Ah, you criterion for a climax is at least relevant. I suspect that the volume set for this test was:
a) loud enough for most recipients to hear,
yet
b) not loud enough to trigger complaints, (fabricated or genuine) but adequate to indicate whether it was necessary to increase the level in an actual emergency event.

Mobile phones have

Why are you asking me, it was someone else who said it was an anti-climax.

Ooops, apologies.

 

[Techniquest]

I didn't get it, although at 3pm I was somewhere around Whaley Bridge on the bus. My data connections were awful up there!

Equally, I use Three so there's clearly an issue there. I'd completely forgot it was happening to be honest!

 

[MotCO]

Indeed, that is the point.

For what it's worth, I don't know that I would consider receiving the alert a minute before/after the time it was supposed to have been sent as a fault. It could just as easily be that the person who pushed the button was a little eager.

I wonder what the capacity of the mobile networks is to send a message simulatneously to all mobile phone users. I recall that at New Year's Eve when everyone tries to send messages at midnight, the system could not cope and messages were delayed.

 

[Russel]

Myself and partner both on Smarty so neither or received it.

Let down.

 

[Meerkat]

I'm in Belfast at the moment and quite impressed that roaming handsets (I live in RoI) also received the message, however those on UK SIM cards in the RoI didn't get the alert or those on the IoM or Channel Islands

AIUI the system doesn't choose, or even know, who it goes out to within a cell - it goes out to every SIM connected to the cell towers that are told to broadcast it.
This means they can send it to a localised area without needing to know who is there.