We Received the Emergency Wireless Test Alert in BC and It Scared the Crap Out of Us

After failures in Quebec and a mixed bag of alerts in Ontario, today was the second round of emergency wireless test alerts for nine provinces and one territory, based on the schedule below:

Yukon 1:30 PM (PST)
Northwest Territories 1:55 PM (MDT)
Alberta 1:55 PM (MDT)
British-Colombia 1:55 PM (PDT)
Saskatchewan 1:55 PM (CST)
Manitoba 1:55 PM (CDT)
Newfoundland & Labrador 1:55 PM (NDT)
Nova Scotia 1:55 PM (ADT)
Prince Edward Island 1:55 PM (ADT)
New-Brunswick 6:55 PM (ADT)

We knew the alert was supposed to come at 1:55PM PDT in B.C., and it did alert us on time on our iPhone X on Public Mobile. We happened to be driving at the time and our phone was not on silent. The alert freaked the crap out of us because the audio comes on unexpectedly and makes you believe a bomb is about to explode.

This is the sound:

But these tests still had some bugs, because various users across these test provinces today did not receive wireless alerts.

#emergencyalert I'm on Fido in BC and got no alert today. Guess I'll just be sitting around here, waiting. pic.twitter.com/0OCF2E3Eni

— Elli of the Two Terriers (@ElliAdventurer) May 9, 2018

So my #Rogers phone got the emergency alert but my #Telus and #Bell phones did not.

I guess Telus and Bell customers are being kept in the dark for emergencies … ? #NoAlertsForYou#AlertReady

— CountryGirl (@IceCold_Country) May 9, 2018

Well, I received the #emergencyalert notification but it appears many didn’t. May the odds be forever in my favour.

— Steve Shrout (@SteveShrout) May 9, 2018

To receive wireless emergency alerts, users must have a device which supports wireless public alerting (WPA) and be connected to an LTE network.

If your device doesn’t support LTE, or you’re only connected to Wi-Fi, the free iOS app Alertable can send you alerts, as it’s linked to the Alert Ready system. The app was able to send a push alert at the same time as the test alert, as seen below:

When judgment day arrives and the T1000 is coming to reacquire John Conner, I can now rest assured I’ll be able to receive an emergency wireless alert.

Did you receive today’s wireless test alert? Which carrier are you on?