The mobile network Three said it was investigating why many of its users failed to receive an emergency alert from the government, the first nationwide test for the UK’s new national warning system.
The alarm was scheduled to sound at 3pm on all mobile devices connected to the UK’s 4G and 5G networks, but while the piercing, ten-second tone did arrive for millions of people, and up to a minute early for some, Three users reported en masse that they did not receive it.
Read the full report here:
A government spokesperson said:
We have effectively completed the test of the UK-wide Emergency Alerts system, the biggest public communications exercise of its kind ever done. We are working with mobile network operators to review the outcome and any lessons learned.”
A very small proportion of users on some mobile networks didn’t receive the message, a government source said, and that failure will form part of the review.
Three has acknowledged that some of its customers did not receive the alert.
Most of the reports we have heard of non-arrivals have been from Three customers. It’s not yet clear why that’s the case.
We're aware that a number of customers have not received the test alert.
— Three UK (@ThreeUK) April 23, 2023
We're working closely with the government to understand why and ensure it doesn't happen when the system is in use.
What did the alert say?
The text of the alert that arrived on (most) mobile phones at around 3pm BST read:
Severe Alert
This is a test of Emergency Alerts, a new UK government service that will warn you if there’s a life-threatening emergency nearby.
In a real emergency, follow the instructions in the alert to keep yourself and others safe.
Visit gov.uk/alerts for more information.
This is a test. You do not need to take any action.
Knowing the alert was coming, organisers of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield had planned to pause play for the 3pm moment. But the erratic delivery meant attempts to resume play were not straightforward. Mark Selby and Gary Wilson were forced to take their seats again … and again:
Not once 😅
— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 23, 2023
Not twice 🤨
But three times 😤
🚨 The emergency alert was definitely bringing some disruption to the Crucible @WeAreWST | #WorldSnookerChampionship pic.twitter.com/Fn8plNiTOM
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Here is PA’s report on the alert received by millions – but not everybody:
Millions of phones across the UK sounded with a siren on Sunday as part of a test for a new national emergency alert system.
The loud alarm was planned to ring at 3pm on all devices that were using 4G and 5G networks in the UK.
The alert rang for 10 seconds and displayed a message notifying phone users that no action was needed in response to the test.
Some smartphones also read out the message to recipients.
Following the test, some users reported receiving the message a minute or so early.However, others said their phone did not display the message or make a sound.
Phones that were powered off or switched to airplane mode were not expected to sound.
The emergency alert system is designed to warn the public if there is a danger to life nearby.
In future, a similarly loud notification and message will be sent to those the UK government is seeking to reach.
Once established, the system is intended to be used in life-threatening situations including flooding and wildfires.
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They even warned Darth Vader – at the Scarborough Sci-Fi weekend:
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Three 'working closely with government to understand why' alerts weren't received
In a statement, a Three spokesperson said:
We are aware that a number of customers have not received the test alert. We are working closely with the government to understand why and ensure it doesn’t happen when the system is in use.
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How did @ThreeUK forget to deliver an emergency alert at 3? The time is your actual name.
— Ned Hartley (@NedHartley) April 23, 2023
The UK’s rolling news channels were all surprised by the alert arriving a few seconds before the allotted time:
Paul Chin, 70, a bookseller and engineer, was coming out of the underground in Stratford with his wife, who declined to give her name, as the alert went off.
“We heard loads of phones going off all around us but with tannoys going off most people ignored it or were confused.”
They had left the theatre 20 minutes before the alert was scheduled to go out. “I wondered what would have happened if we were still there. That would have been a bit of a mess. I don’t know if they thought about that or not.”
Paul thinks the alert would be more useful for those outside London. “ If there really is an emergency, it’s not going to affect London the same way as it would say some remote parts of the countryside where flooding might occur.
“I mean let’s say the Russians decided to come and do something in London. Having a phone bleep at you ain’t gonna help is it?”
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There were fewer disruptions due to the alert than I expected, but it did briefly affect the UK commentators for today’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege bike race in Belgium apparently. Anyone else?
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Three certainly wasn’t expecting to not deliver the alert to large numbers of customers. Their social media accounts were giving users notice of the upcoming alerts just like everyone else:
On Sunday 23 April at 3pm, the UK Government will be testing their emergency alert systems. Your phone will make a loud siren sound, even if it’s on silent, and you’ll see a message appear on your screen 🧵 1/2 #emergencyalert pic.twitter.com/mRUdPRl00E
— Three UK (@ThreeUK) April 20, 2023
But the replies tell a different story, with hundreds of customers telling the network that their phone didn’t sound the alarm.
Two Three users in my house, didn’t get it. The o2 user did. What happened? Why didn’t we get it?
— chloe haynes (@chlobocop27) April 23, 2023
Emma, 30, a teaching assistant, was aware and ready for the alert. “My phone was ready but it didn’t come through but other people’s went off.”
She thinks it’s a good idea. “They’re trying to keep us safe. Alerts, in one form or another, have been around for hundreds of years, just in different ways.
“Now they’re just adapting to the present. Everybody has a phone.
“The world is a horrible place somedays and with everything going on around the world, you never know what might happen in the UK.”
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Other reasons why you might not have received the alert:
Your phone hasn’t had a software update in years (one was required to enable the alert)
You didn’t have 4G or 5G signal (the alert wasn’t sent over 3G networks)
But, for the vast vast vast majority of you, it sounds like the fault here lies with Three.
Some Three network customers report no alert
One common factor in missed alerts may be the Three network. In nearly every report I’ve had so far of users not receiving the alert, they’ve either been on Three or on one of the smaller networks which use Three for its infrastructure:
I didn't receive it either I'm with ID mobile which I think uses the 3 network x
— Amanda💙 (@WestheadAmanda1) April 23, 2023
All the androids that failed to sound were on @ThreeUK so I wonder was it a phone issue or a mobile network issue @alexhern
— Andrew Page @andrewjpage@mstdn.science (@andrewjpage) April 23, 2023
I'm on three and didn't get it either
— Alex Lo (@alexnianguo) April 23, 2023
@alexhern Looks like Three network failed their emergency alert test. I'm aware of 4 people on the Three network who did not receive the alert.
— Rebecca Gregory (@RebeccaFriday96) April 23, 2023
I can also add that in my own WhatsApp groups, two members didn’t get the alert, and both were on Three, and within the Guardian every person who has so far reported failing to get it uses Three. I’ve asked Three for comment.
For balance, one person on O2 has also reported failing to get the notification.
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As with any national event like this, there’s room for some fun too
oh dear god pic.twitter.com/Jle3KuqBf2
— Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) April 23, 2023
Reports that some phones did not receive alert
The alert arrived early for some, but for others, never came at all. David Mitchell and Tanni Grey-Thompson are among those who reported not receiving the notification, and I’ve heard from several others wondering why they were left out as well. One of the big questions for the government in analysing this test will be what caused some users not to receive a warning that was supposed to go out to everyone.
The alarm went off on my phone but not David’s. DOES THE GOVERNMENT WANT HIM DEAD? I always thought he might be a spy.
— Victoria Coren Mitchell (@VictoriaCoren) April 23, 2023
@alexhern multiple people I know did not receive the alert - including me! Do we know how widespread this is? Worried that I'll be the last to know in case of a real emergency scenario....
— Hywel Sedgwick (@HywelSedgwick) April 23, 2023
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Aside from a few confused passersby pulling out their phones, most shoppers in Westfield Stratford in East London were unphased by the emergency test sent to all 4G and 5G phones this afternoon.
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In case you didn’t see it, or aren’t in the UK, here’s the alert that flashed up on (nearly) every phone in the nation.
Instant feedback appears to be focused on two main points: firstly, that the alert went off 30 seconds early, surprising even people like me who were expecting it; and secondly, that the alert signal was so unpleasant that no one wanted to actually read the notification, instead focusing entirely on working out how to stop the awful sound. So, a mixed success?
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Test alert sounds
It went off early! Blimey, that was quite loud and unpleasant.
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I’m actually quite excited. Are you excited?
It’s a bit odd that it’s taken this long for the UK to have a national alert system. The government was running trials across the country as early as 2013 to test the possibility of using public phone networks to send emergency messages at a local or regional scale. The first such trials, in North Yorkshire, Glasgow and Suffolk, were deemed a success.
“Responders remain very keen to see the implementation of a national mobile alert system,” a 2014 report into the trials concluded. “The system would be an effective way of getting people to take specific protective action during an emergency. Whilst a significant challenge, there was consensus that it was possible to issue alerts to the public within 15 minutes of a decision being made.”
Instead, nothing happened for almost a decade. Slow and steady, eh?
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Boston-based Everbridge is one of the companies providing the technology behind today’s alert. Lorenzo Marchetti, the company’s public affairs manager, explained the requirements of any such system:
A public alerting system should encompass three key elements– communication, synchronisation and analysis of data. For example, information might come from a weather forecast, a traffic report or through social media. Analysis of this data gives authorities a broad picture of what could occur and allows them to communicate and synchronise their actions. They can then disseminate this across specific locations or to an entire nation while ensuring that they reach the targeted people in the area. This means that effective public warning platforms can integrate several delivery methods such as radio or TVs, depending on the context of the deployment, in addition to the cell broadcast capacity.
Emergency alerts don’t just benefit citizens but are also essential for giving information and directions to the emergency services, helping them understand where to go and how to direct people away from danger.
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People has issued its own warning for those who use bluetooth hearing aids. The alert will be sent out at the “maximum possible volume”, it says, and those who use hearing aids that connect directly to their phones may find it uncomfortable, painful, or even dangerous to experience.
If you are concerned you could:
Avoid wearing headphones during the test
Disconnect your hearing aids from Bluetooth before the emergency alert test
Avoid being too close to your device when the emergency alert test takes place
Avoid crowded spaces where the noise may be amplified by multiple devices.
Why is the alert system needed?
Why do we need an alert system anyway? The short answer is Covid.
At the beginning of the pandemic, as the UK entered a national lockdown, the government tried to work out how to get the message out to the nation. It ended up settling on a mass text message, sent to all UK numbers.
But the text messaging infrastructure simply wasn’t built to be used in that way, and even sending a thousand messages a second, it still took almost two days to deliver all the texts.
The embarrassing headlines that followed spurred the government into action, and forced it to revive mothballed plans for a true national alert system.
In future, UK government should fund mandatory implementation of Wireless Emergency Alerts system across all UK networks. A text message is better than nothing, but at even at 1000 msgs/second its takes forever to hit 85 million mobiles in the UK. (BBC piece includes my comments) https://t.co/kZzRDIzCbG pic.twitter.com/FbaKHdtidc
— Ben Wood (@benwood) March 25, 2020
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Another group of people who may benefit from a reminder to turn off their phones are those in the middle of a live broadcast.
With Newcastle playing Tottenham today in front of a crowd of around 50,000, St George’s Day events up and down England, and the normal plethora of TV news and live radio, there’s going to be more than a few red faces as broadcasters hurriedly race to stop the warning sound.
If you want to know more than is strictly necessary about the technical journey behind today’s test, civil servant Frazer Rhodes, who led the emergency alerts process at the Environment Agency, has written a three part blog series about the development process. Did you know the first iteration of the alerts was known as the “fainting goat rental”?
We had test messages for Alpacas, Capybara and in this case, overly curious llamas. None of these messages were created or sent on the production service of course.
Initial experiments were aimed at seeing what users would actually do when confronted with an emergency alert, achieved by asking them to read a fake webpage and then popping up a mock-up. One lesson? They frequently worried it was a scam:
Users were initially mistrusting of the message using language such as scam and pop-up. The inclusion of GOV.UK helped provide some reassurance.
The sound was generally the first thing that attracted their attention and often their first response was to silence this.
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The consumer rights organisation, Which?, has warned Brits of a heightened risk of scam texts immediately surrounding the emergency alert at 3pm today.
“Events like this can be a magnet for scammers looking to take advantage of the confusion,” the organisation said. “Anything that asks you to take action from the alert is a scam.
Here’s the (very) recently crowned Deputy PM, Oliver Dowden, explaining what’s going to happen today:
For some, being unable to easily turn off the alert might be simply annoying. For others, it could be dangerous. The Citizens Advice Bureau has put together a handy graphic aimed at people experiencing domestic violence, to remind them that the alert could expose a phone hidden in your house “just in case”.
The graphic has gone viral on most social networks, so hopefully those who need the reminder have already seen it, but if this affects you, please, remember to turn off the hidden phone before the alert sounds at 3pm. Muting it or disabling notifications will not suffice.
In case it isn’t clear, this isn’t a normal text message. It’s supposed to sound from any mobile phone connected to a network at 3pm exactly. It should make an ear-splitting shriek whether or not you’ve got your phone turned on to silent mode.
And even if you’ve managed to find the settings to turn off “extreme alerts” and “severe alerts” in your phone’s preferences menu, this warning will still sound: it’s a higher level of priority (known in other countries as a “presidential alert” but rebranded here to a “government alert”) that, on many devices, simply cannot be disabled.
The only way to escape this is to turn your device off entirely, or, if you have one, to remove the sim card to prevent it connecting to a network.
Emergency notification to land on UK phones at 3pm
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s Emergency Alert Emergency Live Blog.
At 3pm today, every phone in Britain will – or should, assuming everything works – receive a text-message-style emergency notification, accompanied by a pretty piercing noise to attract your attention.
There’s been weeks of warning about this, with a national advertising campaign, and I’m writing an entire live blog about the actual event and I’m still fully expecting to jump out of my skin when my phone yells at me. Let’s experience this strange communal moment together.
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