Community Articles (listed by posting date)
General News · 17th November 2024
Shaun Koopman
Mark your calendars—on Wednesday, November 20th at 1:55 PM, the National Emergency Alert System (Alert Ready) will conduct its next scheduled test.
During this test, an alert tone and message are broadcast to radio, TV, and compatible cell phones. In advance of the test, some carriers may do silent tests of their systems. Depending on your phone’s settings, you may receive an early alert message without sound. If you have an app on your phone that notifies you of emergency information (such as Alertable which is SRD’s regional mass notification App), you may also receive the test there.
To be clear this is the national alert system being tested, not a test of SRD’s regional mass notification system Alertable. It is not SRD “pushing the button” at 1:55pm on November 20th.
In order for your cellphone to receive a push notification via Alert Ready the following stipulations must be met:
A wireless public alerting (WPA) compatible device, like a smartphone, capable of connecting to an LTE network (LTE is commonly referred to as “4G LTE”); and
Equipped with the latest version of its operating software; and
Connected to an LTE cellular network at the time the emergency alert is issued or joins the network while the alert is still active.
In order for your cellphone (or landline) to receive a notification through Alertable you have to create a free account at www.srd.ca/alerts and we encourage everyone to also download the free Alertable App so you can receive third-party notifications through the App such as weather warnings and DriveBC updates for geographic areas you wish to receive notifications for.
This is why it is important to have multiple warning systems in place. For example, not every cellphone receives an Alert Ready notification, and Alert Ready doesn’t call landlines but Alertable does as long as you have created a free account.
During this test, an alert tone and message are broadcast to radio, TV, and compatible cell phones. In advance of the test, some carriers may do silent tests of their systems. Depending on your phone’s settings, you may receive an early alert message without sound. If you have an app on your phone that notifies you of emergency information (such as Alertable which is SRD’s regional mass notification App), you may also receive the test there.
To be clear this is the national alert system being tested, not a test of SRD’s regional mass notification system Alertable. It is not SRD “pushing the button” at 1:55pm on November 20th.
In order for your cellphone to receive a push notification via Alert Ready the following stipulations must be met:
A wireless public alerting (WPA) compatible device, like a smartphone, capable of connecting to an LTE network (LTE is commonly referred to as “4G LTE”); and
Equipped with the latest version of its operating software; and
Connected to an LTE cellular network at the time the emergency alert is issued or joins the network while the alert is still active.
In order for your cellphone (or landline) to receive a notification through Alertable you have to create a free account at www.srd.ca/alerts and we encourage everyone to also download the free Alertable App so you can receive third-party notifications through the App such as weather warnings and DriveBC updates for geographic areas you wish to receive notifications for.
This is why it is important to have multiple warning systems in place. For example, not every cellphone receives an Alert Ready notification, and Alert Ready doesn’t call landlines but Alertable does as long as you have created a free account.