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An emergency FEMA alert test will sound Oct. 4 on all U.S. TVs, radios and cellphones

An emergency alert test will sound Oct. 4 on all U.S. cellphones, TVs and radios. Here's what to expect.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/emergency-alert-test-october-4-2023-fema-fcc-cellphones-tvs-radios/

On Wednesday, Oct. 4, FEMA and the FCC will launch a nationwide test of the emergency alert system.

An emergency alert test will sound Oct. 4 on all U.S. cellphones, TVs and radios. Here's what to expect.

An emergency FEMA alert test will sound Oct. 4 on all U.S. TVs, radios and cellphones::On Wednesday, Oct. 4, FEMA and the FCC will launch a nationwide test of the emergency alert system.

27 comments

Sibbo

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The whole world will be watching. Given that this is world news.

KairuByte

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Is there a “US only tech” community?

Abnorc

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I’m also confused: is this community for worldwide news only? I’m ok with seeing stuff that only pertains to certain countries here.

Geth

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It's not even tech news, really. More like a service announcement only valid in the US.

malockin

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I've already heard conspiracy theories about "the US government shutting down the internet" because someone misinterpreted this test.

FSM help us 🤦‍♂️

OverfedRaccoon

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My personal favorite is the theory that it's coming ahead of the planned EMP on October 11. 🙄

CADmonkey

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Oh, so they're already planning on the next thing, because they know this current one is silly.

LukeMedia

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There's going to be a planned EMP?? I need to go listen to all of the conspiracy theorists so I know what to do and what's going on!!

SeeJayEmm

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Probably from people old enough to live through regular tests of the Emergency Broadcast System.

autotldr

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

A nationwide test of the federal emergency alert system will be broadcast at approximately 2:20 p.m. EDT to cellphones, televisions and radios across the United States at around the same time.

Wireless providers that participate in the integrated public system then dispatch alerts from cell towers to compatible phones in geo-targeted areas.

To make the wireless test more accessible for people with disabilities, alerts are "accompanied by a unique tone and vibration," according to FEMA.

So, most people whose cellphones are turned on and located within range of an active cell tower during the test should receive a message, the agency said.

FEMA's upcoming test recently sparked a wave of conspiracy theories online, which are not based on reality and misrepresent how the technology works.

Wednesday's test will evaluate the technological capabilities of the national alert system to reach and inform as many people as possible in case of a widespread emergency.

The original article contains 1,393 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 89%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

ScrotusMaximus

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April 30, 2023 4am Florida - Never forget

possiblylinux127

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kent_eh

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I'm confused why this is getting so much press.

Aren't there normal periodic routine tests of these systems anyway?

Why the extra effort to notify people this time?

AdmiralShat

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I will be asleep at this time, I work nights, is there anyway to not have this wake me up?

pizzawithdirt

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Shut down your phone completely before sleeping. Airplane mode might work also but I'm not really sure.

jimbolauski

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Airplane mode will work. The alerts are sent out via the mobile network. When airplane mode is turned off there is a good chance the alert will sound. There was a tornado that went through my area, the basement had no cell signal, as we were all coming out from the basement everyone's phones started going off.

NightAuthor

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You can disable emergency alerts, idk if I recommend it, but it can be done.

RickyRigatoni

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Did anyone else seem to not get it?

RickyRigatoni

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It has come to my realization that today is the 3rd, not the 4th.

gerryflap

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Should we also start posting this whenever any other country is going to do a test? Because I can imagine it'd be quite a busy page then. Not everyone is from the US, so imo we should keep this kinda stuff out of here.

Abnorc

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Maybe we can just let the score dictate which posts will have more visibility. If enough people are interested enough to upvote this such that it ends up in your feed, maybe many people are in the US.

Geth

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This has never worked on reddit and there's no reason why it would work here. That's why subreddits had moderation and things that were posted in the wrong sub got removed.

gerryflap

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Yeah that would not work, since a lot of people are in the US and have no consideration for other countries. I don't see how this is relevant to a community about technology. Sure, if they were using some cool and new technology, or a major law had changed, or even an article about how this works, it would be relevant. But this seems like a US-only PSA that doesn't really tell us anything.

Using upvotes only to moderate this type of content will just result in the Reddit issue, where a lot of general-purpose subreddits (like Politics or News) were completely dominated by US topics.

calewerks

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This community is currently hosting lots of country, and region specific news. Not everyone is in the UK and impacted by their regulations. Not everyone is in Europe where they're testing the Facebook and Instagram ad-free subscription. Hell, not everyone is on those platforms so those stories aren't relevant to them. It would leave the community pretty empty at this point if we started moderating content according to its global relevance, especially when people always have the option to just scroll by.

gerryflap

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I don't mind region specific news if it's about tech regulations or something. But a PSA about a regular emergency system test is not that

calewerks

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Yeah, I'll agree with you there. I don't know the extent to which this bot is necessary given that it's not very discerning.

NightAuthor

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Idk the last time we have a nation wide test, it’s news. Calm your tits, before we turn off your internet.