Canadians’ cell phones will be buzzing this week as emergency management officials test a new national public alert system for mobile devices.
Test signals will be sent to millions of mobile users in Quebec and Ontario on Monday and other parts of the country as the week progresses. Cell phones, tablets and other mobile devices will receive the signal in most of the rest of the country on Wednesday.
Users with compatible devices connected to an LTE network will hear a tone similar to an ambulance alarm or feel a vibration for eight seconds. Devices that are turned off won't receive the signal but phone users will hear their conversations interrupted by a sound similar to a call waiting tone. There is no charge for the alert, as it is not an SMS text and does not use data like a text message.
The tests are being conducted after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ordered wireless providers to implement the system to distribute warnings of imminent safety threats such as tornadoes, floods, Amber Alerts or terrorist threats. Radio and TV stations will run similar tests this week.
A similar system is already used in the U.S. and made headlines earlier this year when an emergency official in Hawaii mistakenly sent an alert about a potential incoming ballistic missile. A report issued last month by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said the false alarm, which went uncorrected for 38 minutes after being transmitted and caused widespread panic across the Pacific islands state, was a result of human error and inadequate safeguards.
