FCC Finds Wireless Alert Test Showed System Works, but Improvements Needed
Completed surveys after the August nationwide wireless emergency alert test (see 2108110067) showed the test message was received by about 90% opting into the test with a compatible device, said an FCC Public Safety Bureau report released Thursday. The test…
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“successfully demonstrated that the nationwide WEA system would largely perform as designed if needed for a national emergency” but showed the need to address some deficiencies, the report said: “Over 10% of mobile devices failed to receive the test message intended for them. Thirty-two percent of respondents completing the survey report receiving a duplicate test message.” Most received an alert within two minutes of transmission, the report said. The bureau said “AT&T and Verizon offer a WEA service that is similarly reliable,” and T-Mobile’s appears to be “reliable,” but there isn’t enough data to make a “statistically significant finding.” The bureau found major differences between wireless generations. Some 66.7% of those with 3G devices didn’t receive a message, compared with 8.4% with 4G and 9.3% with 5G phones. Results were similar among manufacturers and operating systems. The bureau said it will “continue to examine the reliability of older WEA-capable mobile devices that are not technically capable of receiving a State/Local WEA Test Alert and WEA’s end-to-end latency for non-nationwide activations.” The bureau also plans to work with FEMA to “evaluate the accuracy and latency of WEA geo-targeting,” address “the challenges of opting in to receive State/Local WEA Test Alerts and “promote an evenly distributed sample of survey respondents.” The bureau also plans to examine why 10.2% of devices didn’t receive the nationwide test while others got a duplicate message, and which smaller carriers aren’t participating in the program and encourage them to do so, the report said.