Mobile phone emergency alert system to be tested in UK

A system that sends emergency alerts to mobile phones within areas affected by flooding, industrial accidents or other local risks is to be tested in the UK.

Government pilots in Easingwold, in North Yorkshire, Leiston, in Suffolk, and Glasgow city centre will evaluate how the public react to the alerts.

Mobile phone emergency alert system to be tested in UK

This is very interesting and not something that is being that widely reported ie on national news broadcasts but tucked away in a BBC technology site. Whilst the new initaivate is a welcome one as one has to move with the times, one has to wonder if there is a hidden agenda. Does the Government know something we don't? SMS technology has been around for years and so has the technology for a national alert system. So why now? I just find the timing most odd. With things going pear shaped in the Middle East for example and global tensions in overload are they prepping for a nuclear war for example?

Thoughts anyone?

Id laugh my arse off if the system got hijacked and everyone got PPI insurance claim texts

I think its going to be a good thing, lets just hope it STAYS for emergency only.


EDIT: just thought, the first time this thing hits everyone's phones and a WHOLE office lights up with everyone getting a text - people are going to be extremely spooked!

reply to post by Wirral Bagpuss


Hi there, and this is very interesting, thanks for bringing it up. Never heard of this system before until now. I hope it works, because it could do the world of good.

However, my initial thought brings me to the subject of Hogmanay, or NYE to others. You know that point where you ring, text or expect either from/to loved ones after the bells or thereabouts, the network jams up, and you eventually get your midnight texts at about 8am. I wonder how this system can cope with that amount of data output, not to mention the already mega used network being utilized by the public.

Could they cut all networks off to the public making calls and sending texts in order to get their message out. Even if they could, would it work? Or would we get our messages 8 hours later when impending emergency event has already happened?..

Like I said, that was my first thought, just thought I'd mention it here.

S&F for your post OP.

reply to post by Wirral Bagpuss


Evening Wirral Bagpuss.

I have to say, its about bloody time. We have had many millions of pounds of property damage in this country due to flooding. Gloucestershire has had it, various places in Wales and Scotland have copped a metric *ahem, do excuse me* tonne of water, and even Essex, one of the driest counties in the country was flooded this year after freakish rains a few weeks ago. Given that we have had SMS text messege capacity here since the bloody eighties, and high volume uptake since I was a school boy (ah the Nokia 3210, not just a mobile phone, but more than capable of being used as a self defense weapon in an emergency), the time it has taken to get this idea moving is just deplorable.

Concerns about the system being hacked are nothing short of hilarious too! The only way that would happen is if the system was active when there was no emergancy to report in a given area (which, despite the state of things at this point in history, is actually MOST of the time), meaning loads of time for bastards of every sort to poke about in its innards. Hows this for a plan then? Make it so the system is only connected to any network, when there is an emergancy, rather than leaving it switched on at all bloody times? Howabout actually paying a little bloke in an important looking uniform to flip the power switch to the on position, when the crap hits the fan somewhere?

I mean this is hardly rocket science, brain surgery, or any other damned thing which requires the use of more than two synaptic interfaces at once! The idiocy of the people we pay to administrate in this country... I cannot decide whether to laugh, cry, or crucify my local MP!

More nanny state - how did we ever cope without it? I wonder who is going to pay for this system and who is to supply the data? Personally, I do not welcome this perceived further intrusion. It could well be another link in the total control, your mobile is your ID card, tracking your every move, recording your every earn and your every spend. Big Brother is watching.

RobbieK

Could they cut all networks off to the public making calls and sending texts in order to get their message out. Even if they could, would it work? Or would we get our messages 8 hours later when impending emergency event has already happened?..

Since EE took over from T-Mobile Im lucky if I get texts or calls when its not an emergency.
Most of my texts seem to arrive about 8 hrs later, and the texts say.."Been trying to call you, cant get a hold of you".
Of course by the time i get the texts its too late.
Im also lucky if I get ANY reception while inside a building...any building.

EDIT: haha, on the same subject, just got a message "you have a missed call from 2 and a half hours ago"
Im paraphrasing of course.

It's nice to receive alerts if there's a traffic problem up ahead, or a storm coming where you need to seek cover.

We have those alert systems, my husband is a truck driver, and gets traffic alerts sent to his cell phone. It gives him time to find an alternative route (if possible), or to just wait it out.

Hail here gets the size of grapefruits, so it's nice to know if you need to get your vehicle under cover. Also, winter snow storms come in fast.
I prefer to be informed of dangers.

I'm only opted in on the weather alerts, it's not an invasive system where you have to have alerts.
Here, its our choice.
And it doesn't cost anything extra.

This could play another cruel roll....


As you approach Slough, *BEEP BEEP* text alert "warning this is a horribly ugly dull city, TURN AROUND TURN AROUND!"

reply to post by Wirral Bagpuss


Maybe they've decided to follow in the footsteps of the U.S.

The U.S. will be testing it's Emergency Broadcast System alerts every day from September 25th - October 2nd and are scheduled to participate in GridEx 2013 in November where they go through an exercise and drill on how to respond to a national power grid failure in case of a cyber attack. This exercise is an international exercise, so I wonder if they'll be participating in that too.

I am sorry, but I can't believe our government are that nice They don't care about us in any other circumstance's, such as redundancy, eviction, driving too slow or fast on the motorway. Cameron has recently tried to make out he is Mr Nice by wanting to get involved in Syria and at long last we can see through him.
He is a sociopath, and his dopey wife! It is all to make himself look good with a general election on the horizon.

Maybe Boris will give everyone a free bike for xmas next or a little wooden boat ... who knows this is one crazy, selfish government. Maybe we should not build on the marshes and the flood planes ... you tell them Cameron! tell wimpey and all the other developers, NO! 70 miles from the seaside?? Hmmm .... can squeeze in a lot of houses in that 70 miles.


hx

happinness
Cameron has recently tried to make out he is Mr Nice by wanting to get involved in Syria and at long last we can see through him.
He is a sociopath, and his dopey wife! It is all to make himself look good with a general election on the horizon.

Maybe Boris will give everyone a free bike for xmas next or a little wooden boat

I misread this, I saw 'little wooden box'. Makes more sense to me given as how the Tories and their LibDem cohort have declared war on the poor!

who knows this is one crazy, selfish government. Maybe we should not build on the marshes and the flood planes ... you tell them Cameron! tell wimpey and all the other developers, NO! 70 miles from the seaside?? Hmmm .... can squeeze in a lot of houses in that 70 miles.

Probably being built under the new 'build to rent' funding regime introduced to help large private landlords like Grainger PLC build lots of pokey flats in Slough. Cameron won't be telling anyone anything; he and his dopey wife are major shareholders at Grainger, who even as we speak are trying to secure major development on the flood plains of West Berkshire.

Still, the alert system should be in place in plenty of time to notify all the new occupants to evacuate when the water rises!

reply to post by teapot


Ohhh, Teapot... please don't tell me, it makes me want to cry!!!!
Heard of lots of things in London too all getting bulldozed by these greedy developers ...
A new amusement park has been given the all clear on the flood plains in Northfleet ... I think of the wildlife too, they have no chance, ever to recover from their greed! they have the cheek to attend church too ... bloody hypocrites!!! I mean these so called Politian's ....

hx