A nationwide service that will send emergency alerts directly to your cell phone will hit Airdrie and Alberta tomorrow afternoon (May 9th).

Tim Trytten with Alberta Emergency Alert explained when this alert will be coming.

A scene from the Calgary floods in 2013. (Photo Courtesy: Alexis Hushlak)

“The CRTC has said that now that we’ve introduced wireless public alerting, they want us to once a year, between what we call EP week or Emergency Preparedness Week which is going on right now. They want telecommunications companies to carry the alert directly to the consumers. We are going to be doing a test on Wednesday at 1:55 in the afternoon.”

Unfortunately, not all mobile phones will be able to receive the alerts as there are certain requirements for devices to be compatible.

“Mobile phones, there’s a lot of variation in there,” said Trytten. “The three things that you do need is you need an LTE device. It has to be compatible with WPA and also it has to be connected to the network and turned on at that time.”

Trytten said that the alerts are sent as a separate message similar to a text but they will have a distinct tone.

You can find more details and a list of compatible devices at the Alert Ready website.

 

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