Another round of public wireless alert tests coming: CRTC

The CRTC is directing wireless phone service providers to conduct additional “visible” tests of the emergency alert system, after the first tests were plagued with compatibility problems that resulted in many Canadians not receiving the alerts. According to an email letter CRTC secretary general Claude Doucet sent out to wireless providers, posted to the commissioner’s website Wednesday, the commission is calling for another round of publicly visible tests because the first round in May “did not achieve full success.” The CRTC said after reviewing submissions from Pelmorex Corp., which runs the alert system, and wireless operators, it determined the “underlying objectives” of the wireless public alert testing – ensuring it functions properly and generates public awareness – were “not fully realised.” The directive comes after the CRTC received a letter from senior officials responsible for emergency management – officials from Public Safety Canada and provincial emergency management organisations – on September 14, which said they “recognize the value of a second, all-channel (wireless and broadcast) public awareness test message in November 2018 and would support such a second test.” The commission had originally approved a schedule for five tests a year, but only one of which would be visible on users’ phones during national emergency preparedness week in May. The new CRTC directive said if a provincial emergency management organization decides to issue another visible wireless test alert before the next scheduled public test in May next year, wireless providers will have to notify their subscribers about the “possible reception of one or more visible wireless test alerts.” The notice to subscribers will need to inform them about device compatibility so they “will be aware that not all devices are capable of receiving emergency wireless test alerts and actual emergency alerts,” the letter states. The first tests of the system in May this year revealed coding and compatibility problems that resulted in test alerts not getting sent out in Quebec and in Ontario had only reached a few residents. Federal officials in charge of the alert system told a Senate committee late last month they had overestimated how many Canadians had phones that could receive the alerts. But they also said alerts that went out warning of tornadoes touching down in Ottawa last month proved that the system is working. The CRTC’s call for more public alert tests was issued the same day that the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency tested its Presidential Alert system.

Another round of public wireless alert tests coming: CRTC

Brief | October 3, 2018

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Another round of public wireless alert tests coming: CRTC

Brief | October 3, 2018

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