Wireless Public Alerting FAQ

Federal, provincial and territorial governments are responsible for issuing emergency alerts. Federally, emergency alerts are issued most frequently by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Each provincial or territorial government decides who will have the authority to issue alerts within their jurisdictions. For example, emergency alerts could be issued by provincial or territorial emergency management offices or in some cases by municipal emergency management offices or local police and fire departments. TELUS and other carriers broadcast emergency alerts received from alerting authorities directly to compatible wireless devices connected to LTE networks.

The Alert Ready system allows alerting authorities from federal, provincial and territorial governments to issue a wide range of public safety messages. However, TELUS and other carriers will only receive and relay messages that are issued for threat-to-life situations. Government officials developed a specific list of alert types that are considered a threat-to-life and should be broadcasted immediately. These “Broadcast Immediately” emergency alerts have the highest level of severity, urgency and certainty. For a full list, visit the

Alert Types section

of the website.

Yes. The alerting authority determines what areas are affected by an incident, weather or environmental situation and uses a standard system that will typically correspond with municipal, regional or provincial boundaries. Emergency alerts intended for wireless devices are issued to a defined geographic area, which can be as small as a few city blocks, so that only people in the defined area receive the emergency alerts. Compatible wireless devices in the targeted area will receive the emergency alerts within seconds of being issued, provided the devices are powered on and connected to the LTE cellular network.

No. While the emergency alert may look like a text message it is not a text message. Emergency alerts are sent by Cell Broadcast distribution. Cell Broadcast is a mobile technology that allows messages to be broadcast to all compatible wireless devices within a designated geographical area. Cell Broadcast can be compared to radio broadcast. Radio towers broadcast music to people in defined geographic areas as long as the individuals can pick-up the broadcast signal and have their radios turned on. Similarly, Cell Broadcast messages are delivered simultaneously to those compatible wireless devices that are within range of cell towers and antennas in the designated area.

Testing of the emergency alert system is scheduled in advance. The test schedule for your specific province or territory can be found on

AlertReady.ca

.

If your phone is WPA compatible and has the latest device software installed, you don’t need to take any further action (no sign-up necessary, no special setting, no special app downloads, etc.). You are automatically enrolled in the service. You also cannot opt out of the wireless emergency alerting service in Canada as mandated by the CRTC for all Canadian wireless carriers.

As of the time of the launch of the service on April 6, 2018, we estimated that approximately 60% of the devices connected to the TELUS networks would receive wireless emergency alerts. This now exceeds 93.5%. For a device to receive WPA alerts the following conditions need to be met:

The good news is that TELUS LTE networks are already available to 99% of the population and manufacturers are releasing software updates over the next few months to make additional devices compatible.

While on Wi-Fi, if the compatible wireless device can still communicate with the LTE cellular network, it will receive emergency alerts. If the wireless device is not within reach of the LTE cellular network (or is set to Wi-Fi only) it will not receive an emergency alert.

Wireless alerts are sent on a specific cellular channel that is separate from normal text and data traffic. While the alerts may look like text messages, they are not text messages and are not billed like text messages nor do they count towards data usage.

No. Emergency alerts received on your compatible wireless device are relevant to you and require immediate attention and government regulations mandate that all compatible wireless devices receive all relevant alerts. Unlike radio and television broadcasting, which often has broad areas of coverage; wireless public alerting is geo-targeted and can be very specific to a limited area of coverage. As a result, if an emergency alert reaches your wireless device, you are located in an area where there is an imminent danger.

Yes. Emergency alerts are issued to a defined geographic area, such that only people in the defined area will receive the emergency alerts. If you are travelling and happen to be in another province when an emergency alert is issued, your compatible wireless device will receive the emergency alert within seconds of being issued, provided your phone is powered on and connected to the LTE cellular network.

No. If you are travelling, you will only receive emergency alerts that occur where you are.

Canadians can keep track of emergency alerts occurring in specific areas (e.g. where they or other family members live) through a number of available apps and online services.

Emergency alerts are broadcast from cellular towers and antennas within the area specified by the alert issuer. Compatible wireless devices connected to the specified towers/antennas will receive the emergency alert. The towers/antennas therefore must be operational to send emergency alerts. If you are in an affected area but your wireless device is unable to connect to any towers/antennas because of the situation, you will not receive the emergency alert on your wireless device.

Emergency alerts will not end a voice call or data session in progress. If you are on a

VoLTE

call when the emergency alert is received, you will hear an alert tone, similar to call waiting. The alert will be displayed on your device, after your call has ended. If you are on a call while connected to the 3G network, you will not receive the alert while you are on the call. You will receive the emergency alert after your call has ended, if it the alert is still active and your device is connected to the LTE network. If you are using data, the emergency alert will briefly interrupt your data session by the emergency alert appearing on your screen, but your data session will continue.

A compatible wireless device that is turned off, or is in Airplane Mode, will not display an emergency alert. If the emergency alert is still active when the wireless device is powered on or out of Airplane Mode and the user is still in the alert area, the wireless device will then display the alert.

A compatible wireless device that is set to silent will display an emergency alert, but you might not hear the emergency alert sound. The emergency alert sound will usually play at whatever the current volume setting is on the wireless device, so if your wireless device is set to silent, no sound will accompany the emergency alert message. However, this behaviour can differ depending on your wireless device and in some instances the alert sound may override your user settings. Please consult your device manufacturer for more device-specific information.

If the emergency alert is still active when the compatible wireless device is turned on and you are within the emergency alert area, the emergency alert will be displayed. If the emergency alert is no longer active or if you have travelled outside of the alert area, it will not be displayed.

After eight seconds or once an emergency alert is acknowledged, the alert will no longer display on your home screen. Some smartphones allow you to save and retrieve emergency alerts received on your device, where the alerts will generally be found with other notifications, not in your text messages. To find out if your device is capable of saving an emergency alert, we recommend that you contact your device manufacturer.

Some smartphones allow you to save and retrieve emergency alerts received on your device after you acknowledge the alert. To find out if your device is capable of saving an emergency alert, we recommend that you contact your device manufacturer.

No. Emergency alerts are sent using Cell Broadcast distribution. Cell Broadcast can only transmit information to your wireless device. This means that no data is being gathered about you, your wireless device or your location when emergency alerts are sent out.

The

Apple support page

on this feature states that the "iPhone delivers some notifications, such as emergency alerts, timers, and alarms."

Wireless public alerts use an international standard and the broadcast channel that is often called “Presidential Alert” in the United States. Governments and private sector partners have worked with Canadian wireless service providers to use the term “EMERGENCY ALERT / ALERTE D’URGENCE”, as identified in version 2.0 of the National Public Alerting System Common Look and Feel Guidance, published on March 29, 2018. However, some phones pre-dating this guidance, or that were either purchased outside of Canada or manufactured to be compatible with the U.S. Wireless Emergency Alerts system, will use the American international standard and will display “Presidential Alert”, or another non-Canadian headline banner.

Testing of the emergency alert system is scheduled in advance. The test schedule for your specific province or territory can be found on

AlertReady.ca

.

Test alerts are distributed via AM/FM radio, TV, cable TV, and WPA compatible devices. The test alert is intended to validate that the overall alerting system is working as it should. No action is required should you receive the alert on your device. You cannot opt-out from receiving test alerts.

It is important that you first verify that you did not receive an alert by checking your device's folder. In some instances you might not see or notice the alert even though your device has received it. The alert might be “hidden” with other notifications.

If you didn’t receive an alert on your device it is important to do several things, including checking the phone’s

WPA compatibility

, as well as ensuring that you have updated the software. There are many factors that will impact your ability to receive the alert including your location, or whether you are connected to the LTE network at the time of the alert distribution.

Wireless public alerts in Canada follow the

Canadian common look and feel guidance

. The agreed upon term for emergency alerts in this guidance is “EMERGENCY ALERT / ALERTE D’URGENCE”. The equivalent term as per the American standard is “Presidential Alert”. Devices pre-dating the Canadian name alignment, as well as phones purchased outside of Canada or manufactured to be compatible with the U.S. Wireless Emergency Alerts system, will display “Presidential Alert”, or another non-Canadian headline banner.

In most cases, you should only receive an alert once. However, if you think you are receiving the same alert more than once it could be due to one of the following potential reasons:

No. In order for emergency alerts to be received on a wireless device, the following conditions must be met. The wireless device must be:

It is important that you first verify that you did not receive an alert by checking your device’s “notification” folder. In some instances you might not see or notice the alert even though your device has received it. The alert might be “hidden” with other notifications.

If you didn’t receive an alert on your device, it is important to do several things, including checking that the phone appears on the list of

WPA compatible devices

, as well as ensuring that you have updated the phone with the latest available system update. There are many factors that will impact your ability to receive the alert including your location, or whether you are connected to the LTE network at the time of the alert distribution.

A wireless device that is WPA-compatible is (1) an LTE-device, that (2) has special software embedded in it that allows for the alert message to be received in the standard Alert Ready format (look, sound and vibration). The common Alert Ready format ensures the alert is recognizable and provides confirmation that it is issued by a legitimate source.

Here

is a list of all WPA compatible smartphones that are currently offered in the TELUS mobility shop.

TELUS and other carriers are required to distribute emergency alerts via the LTE networks to compatible smartphones. Additional wireless devices – such as tablets and wearable accessories (e.g. smartwatches) – may be capable, from a technical perspective, to receive some form of the message, but it will not necessarily be received on the device in the common Alert Ready format.

There are numerous companion and Bluetooth devices on the market. Testing shows that some, but not all, connected devices will play the alerts along with the smartphone. To find out if your device is capable to receive emergency alert and for more information we recommend that you contact your device manufacturer.

TELUS can only guarantee WPA compatibility for devices that are tested and certified by TELUS and that are sold through TELUS. For a comprehensive list check out the TELUS device compatibility list available

here

. Devices from non-Canadian carriers MAY work, but TELUS cannot comment on how the alerts will be rendered.

TELUS can only guarantee WPA compatibility for devices listed

here

. Older device models might not have the WPA functionality enabled by the device manufacturer. For more information, you can contact your device manufacturer.

Test alert messages will be identified as such. These messages are intended to “test” the functionality of the system and inform consumer of wireless emergency alerts and do not require the consumer to take steps to secure their safety.

You may be required to acknowledge receipt of the emergency alert in order to allow for your wireless device to resume normal functioning. In the event that you cannot acknowledge the alert, the alert sound and vibration will continue for 8 seconds. Depending on your specific wireless device, additional reminders may occur.

Upon receiving the emergency alert it is important to take action safely. Stop what you are doing when it is safe to do so and read the emergency alert. Government officials will include, within the emergency alert, the information you need for any action you need to take. This could include but is not limited to: limit unnecessary travel, evacuate the areas, seek shelter, etc.

It is important to take action safely, especially if the emergency alert is received while operating a vehicle. If you are driving, it is important to remain calm and pull over at your earliest opportunity to view the emergency alert. Also note that some connected Bluetooth car stereos will play and magnify the alert sound. Make sure you do not panic and take action safely.