Today's 3pm emergency alert
- Thread starter trog
- Start date
Yes it happened. I think it was only sent to smart phones.
It appears that only 4G & 5G users received the alert and not even all of them, many people on the 3 network also failed to get it. I am on Vodaphone but 3G.
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
Classic fail IMHO. Loud noise and message - only way to stop loud noise so you can think (without waiting for it to die) is to press "OK" ... which then closes the message. 
If you know how you can dig it up from the archive in settings (on Android anyway), but would it have been so hard to supply a "mute" or "silence" button too?
If you know how you can dig it up from the archive in settings (on Android anyway), but would it have been so hard to supply a "mute" or "silence" button too?
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Fail anyway: what they never mentioned on the news was that your phone would have to be Android 11 or iOS 14.5 minimum. They seem to think that covers the majority... really?
MymsMan
Ad detector
EEPhil
Number 28
I read that somewhere (gov.uk ? ). The lack of a mention anywhere else defeats the object. Restricting the alert to new phones or the most up-to-date OS is also daft. There have to be many older and not completely knackered phones out there. Who's going to buy a new phone just to get an alert? (I had to, my 3rd hand iPhone 5s's battery is shot, can't update past IOS 12.something and most new apps won't load - therefore a right racket at 3pm, twice (new phone has 2 SIMs?) )
I've turned most notifications off, but thought an emergency one could be useful. If it ever becomes annoying I'll turn it off. If only I could turn it off on a per SIM basis...
RobH1
Well-Known Member
I saw that but ours are Android 9 +4G and we received the alert!
I don't know about android, but with Apple, the alerts would work with anything from the iPhone 6S / 6S Plus models, from late 2015 onwards.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I don't see how they can do anything else. The facility has to be there in the wireless interface hardware/firmware, and the OS has to be able to do something with it.
I presume this is just piggy-backing on facilities already rolled out in much larger markets than the UK (and therefore bled through to phones sold in the UK), so at least it's not something new (unlike the Covid track&trace app).
I find that remarkable. The info does say some previous versions might work, but I expected that would mean 10 if you're lucky.
Not sure what the discriminator is. It might depend on the specific roll-out for make/model – Android is not usually vanilla, it has to be customised for each phone by the manufacturer, and there seems to be a pick'n'mix approach to what they include and what they don't.
My Samsung A3(2016) is on Android 7, and no updates are available (even if I wanted them). It's in the hands of Samsung to make an update available, and I doubt they consider it worth the effort (dropped support).
Shame – I won't miss tornado alerts, and I live on top of a hill so a tsunami warning won't be of much benefit, but I wouldn't mind warning of typhoons... they're so friggin' LOUD!
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Despite being told to turn off their phones, there were plenty in the snooker audience who hadn't. I expect they thought "silent" would be good enough!
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
It's similar with normal notifications – casually dismiss it out of hand, and there's no way to go back and check if it was actually important.
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
That's my take as well. UK is behind the curve on this, but then again we generally have less disaster size events than the US or Japan.
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
You can say the same thing about seat belts or other such safety devices. They roll out on an 'as replaced' basis, so coverage rises over time.
And like many vaccinations, you don't need to hit 100% to have a big effect on the effectiveness on the population as a whole. The herd will fill in the gaps, so-to-speak.
Indeed there are and for good reason. I have lost count of the amount of phones I have broken whilst working. It is not practical to carry around a large slab that requires you to swipe your dusty, oily or mastic covered fingers over and a cheap compact push button phone can survive for years rather than months but if it does suffer a fatal fall from height or a killer impact it can be replaced for a fraction of the cost of a smart phones cracked screen. I know many other people in the construction industry who do the same as me for the same reasons and just as many who are constantly taking their iphones to a repair shop.
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Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Not so may of those will still work when they turn off 3G!
fewer
You think? "someone who has" will be straight onto social media, and the "someones who haven't" don't use it!
