Thursday, December 6, 2018

Alert Ready

I was in a store in Owen Sound last week, checking out a present for grandchildren, when suddenly there was a very loud alarm which seemed to be coming right from my wheelchair!  I looked around, but nothing seemed to be happening, and no-one was hurrying to rescue me.  The sound only lasted about 30 seconds and it was over.

There I was, wondering what in the world is going on, but nothing seemed to be amiss.  Then I recalled that I always carry my cellphone in a side pocket.  Pulling it out I found a text message that said something about a test of the national alerting system.  The alarm had come from my cellphone, not my wheelchair.

Later on I was able to look this up, and I found that Canada has been developing a national alerting system known as 'Alert Ready' for several years.  Spearheaded originally by the Weather Network (thinking about tornadoes), the ideas has attracted a significant number of government agencies who have co-operated to launch the system.  It will cover every emergency you can think of, from tornadoes to Amber Alerts for missing children.

There are a host of technical issues to be solved to make this work on a national scale, but you may already be seeing such alerts occasionally on your TV.  The alarm I heard was the national test for mobile devices like cellphones.

So if you suddenly hear a loud alarm coming from your pocket or purse, pay attention!

17 comments:

  1. When we had the tornado here in September, a lot of mobiles had alarms going off.

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  2. We've had something similar down here for some time. I disabled it on my cell phone because it kept going off for things that were happening hundreds of miles away -- there has to be a way to make it a more localized alert system. Hopefully your system will be better.

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  3. Unfortunately our cell phones didn't get the alert because we were using our Internet wifi to get our phone connection. It appears it will only work if you are directly on a cell network. - Margy

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  4. Sometimes these alarms tend too confuse us.

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  5. I was at a stop light in Red Deer when the last alert test happened. Every driver at the intersection picked up their cell phones! The phone police could have made a killing if they'd been set up and waiting!

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  6. Glad to know Canada is working on this setup. We already have something similar but it's on our TV and not our phones. Yet. :-)

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  7. Very good! They are working on such a system here.

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  8. As someone who worked in a place where all kinds of alarms went off with irritating regularity I can appreciate your puzzlement.

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  9. I have had a couple of alerts in my phone nice that they are there.

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  10. The alarms can be quite loud and almost paralyzing but now that you now what they are all about, you won't be freaking out looking for the source. :)

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  11. I got one a couple weeks ago...tornado sighting...yowie

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  12. My cell phone already gets those alerts.

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  13. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  14. We just get tests of the Emergency Broadcast system on TV. BUT the Sheriff will send out recorded message that we get on our land line...weather and jailbreak alerts. :)

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  15. Good thing you weren't in a movie theater when that went off or you might have had a lot of popcorn boxes headed your way.....I never get those warnings on my smart phone but I bet if I ever turned it on I just might...…….

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  16. There is this same type of thing going on in the US. Mine did not sound the day the notice was sent. I think maybe my President does not care if something happens to me. I have signed a few petitions.

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  17. That's pretty funny! I don't have a cell phone.
    (ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!

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