Today is the first day for wireless emergency test alerts, as part of Emergency Preparedness Week. The first wireless alerts were slated for 9:55AM EDT in Quebec, but a glitch caused the system to fail, according to the CRTC.
The Canadian Press reports CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao saying the problem originated with the emergency management team in Quebec and Pelmorex Corp. (parent company of The Weather Network), which operates the system.
Reports of wireless alerts received in Quebec were far and few between, with some noting they only received an alert because they just happened to have The Weather Network app installed (no apps are required to receive test alerts).
Wait, did even a single person in Quebec receive the emergency alert test on their cellphone? I can’t find any reports on Twitter.
— Steve Faguy (@fagstein) May 7, 2018
Nothing happened with the alert system test on the phones, just on tv #Quebec
— angela514 (@angelamorales18) May 7, 2018
I don't know anyone who got the alert in Quebec which was scheduled for 9:55 this morning…. https://t.co/Vx5Kl8aLTG
— Anna Asimakopulos (@asimakoaa) May 7, 2018
In order to receive a test alert, users must have a device which supports wireless public alerting (WPA) and be connected to an LTE network.
Valladao said the problem had nothing to do with wireless cellphone providers and emphasized at least this snafu happened during a test, and not a real emergency.
Sounds like the wireless alert system was off to a rocky start this morning—let’s see how the upcoming Ontario test goes at 1:55PM EDT.
