US government ran the first nationwide test of its wireless emergency alert system at 2:18PM ET Wednesday, with a message going to all US wireless users
At 2:18 p.m. ET today … Chris Morris / Fortune : Wondering Why You Didn't Get the Presidential Text? So Is the Government Garrett M. Graff / Wired : The Long, Strange History of the Presidential Text Alert Gregory Wallace / CNN : Trump won't be sending ‘presidential alert’ from his phone, FEMA says Emily Dreyfuss / Wired : Why Didn't I Get an Emergency Presidential Alert Text? BBC : Presidential alert: US mobile phones get test message Natasha Frost / Quartz : The US government doesn't seem to know why some people didn't get its presidential alert Tweets: @fema : Hi, we'll be working with mobile providers & @FCC to evaluate the test results from today and determine what improvements need to be made. You can also send feedback directly to FEMA-National-Test@fema.dhs.gov. Scott Hanselman / @shanselman : Hey friends, I was mistaken - this alert message level is not a new thing, it started before the current administration. I remain not a fan of the name, regardless of who named it. “Governmental Alert” or “National Alert” would be better. And I still don't like that U2 album. Alex Howard / @digiphile : The headlines about the US government conducting the first nationwide test of our wireless aler system collected by @techmeme are an entertaining mirror of the minds of editors in 2018: http://www.techmeme.com/... (@FEMA's reply to me reflects how agencies reacting has shifted, too.) http://twitter.com/... Tom Bergeron / @tom_bergeron : Received a Presidential Alert on my cell phone today, but not sure if it was authentic. Everything was spelled correctly. #covfefe Brian Fung / @b_fung : Weird. I had to reboot my phone to get the alert. Ryan Fournier / @ryanafournier : If Twitter bans President Trump, he can just text us! #PresidentialAlert Greg Mania / @gregmania : remember the good ol' days when we got an unsolicited U2 album on our phone instead @fema : TOMORROW (Wednesday) 10/3: Expect to get a test emergency alert message on your phone at 2:18 PM EDT. You'll hear a loud tone & vibration. This is a nationwide test of the Wireless Emergency Alert system. Questions? Check out http://fema.gov/... . pic.twitter.com/RIdPay87eN Alex Howard / @digiphile : The (completely unscientific, non-representative) poll on Twitter by NPR: http://twitter.com/... suggested many other Americans didn't get the mandatory #PresidentialAlert. Please keep testing it until we all do, @FEMA. I'd prefer that annoyance to some of us missing a real one. http://twitter.com/... Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel : i get that we don't love the idea of the tweeting president to have another way to put pithy messages in our faces but if it's just an emergency alert thing is that really so bad? Ashley Feinberg / @ashleyfeinberg : hey just texted everyone, no need to reply Matt McGee / @mattmcgee : I'm sure Twitter users will handle this in a very rational manner. It's not like getting a free U2 album on your phone or anything, right? http://twitter.com/... @wired : Get ready. President Trump will be sending his first text message to everyone in the US on Wednesday and it will look something like this. It's part of FEMA's emergency alert system and you can't block it. pic.twitter.com/8EaqDUs9m3