FEMA’s emergency alert test rang phones two minutes early
by Wes Davis from The Verge - All Posts on (#6F81F)
A FEMA sample of the alert message. | Image: FEMA FEMA and the FCC conducted a dual test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) today. FEMA said in its announcements that the test would occur around" 2:20PM ET. For us at The Verge, who are spread across the US, it hit at 2:18PM instead. The text attached to the message went to cellphones in either English or Spanish, depending on the phone's language settings, though radios and TVs may have gotten the alert shortly after. (A TV in my house played the alert at 2:26PM ET.)
Unlike the national alert that went out in 2021, you couldn't opt out of this one - it came to every active cellphone that's capable of receiving it that was switched on and connected to a cell tower - including, in my case, three...