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AT&T to Send Emergency Alerts to U.S. iPhone 4S/5 Owners [Update: iPhone 4 Users Also Included]

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Better late than never, AT&T.

I've had this on my Verizon 4S for several months now.

I agree the AMBER alerts can be a pain sometimes, especially when they go off when you're not in a position to help. For now I deal with the minor inconvenience, since the benefits far outweigh the cons.
 
it's about time

i was wondering when this woud happen seeing how lots people dont even listen to the radio or TV anymore
 
As long as I can opt out I don't have any problem with this.
Still waiting for cable companies to let me opt out of their service.
(I mean really, I am on my couch and you are telling me about a car involved in an amber alert? LOL. FAIL)
 
DarkLighter1985 said:
Because I don't want to be bothered by a message every single time a child I don't know goes missing?
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I'm sure the parents of the missing child didn't want to be bothered by a kidnapping either. Even if there's a 0.01% chance that you will spot the culprit or what not, is that not enough to at least get a little message on your phone to keep your eyes open and potentially help save a life?
 
Glad I don't have an iPhone, I don't want that communist Obama sending me text messages about the Democrats campaigns. Blah blah Reagan blah blah.

I'd imagine if there's an impending emergency big enough to require a Presidential Alert we'll be all glad to know about it
 
The argument that the 'presidential alert' hasn't been used before and if it is used in the future it must be something HUGE!

Is ridiculous the Kennedy assassination was huge, 9/11 was huge and as it was happening many of us were watching it and somewhat aware almost instantly. George W. was alerted via a whisper in his ear at a children's literacy program.

Further the argument that our phones use public radio is bull. AT&T-Verizon-sprint-tmobile all use private towers and we have private/individual numbers. By principal only, that argument could extend to individual emails.

By the time something that huge and cataclysmic happens, I doubt I'll be awaiting instructions from the white house regardless who is in it.

To argue a desired blissful state, I'd argue a proactive independent state who isn't a sheep.
 
Just got the update on the iPhone 4 I have laying around.
 
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testcard said:
Anyone care to explain what a Presidential alert might contain? We don't have a President where I live :)
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Well, it's kind of hard to extrapolate from n=0 (there has never been a Presidential alert). Since 9/11 didn't trigger an alert, there are probably pretty few things that would. I would say incoming nuclear missiles or a large-scale chemical weapons attack might trigger an alert with a shelter-in-place order. Something like that. It would have to be something both national in scale and unexpected so that it's not all over the news. It's really not going to be used in anything less significant than that.

Further the argument that our phones use public radio is bull. AT&T-Verizon-sprint-tmobile all use private towers and we have private/individual numbers. By principal only, that argument could extend to individual emails.
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No. Radio spectrum is a valuable public resource. As a nation, we allow private companies and individuals to make use of our extremely limited useful radio spectrum with their radio and television transmittters and cell towers and handsets -- but it comes with reasonable conditions. One of those conditions is that, in the event of a truly catastrophic emergency the government can use that same infrastructure to transmit essential information to the American people. It is a perfectly reasonable balance of public and private interests.
 
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NYU said:
I'm running iOS 7 on my 4S, can anyone confirm the new AT&T carrier update is version 14.5 in Settings - About ?

The Government Alerts are enabled for me, just want to make sure it's not an iOS 7 bug.

Thanks!
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Mine showed up when I installed iOS 7. It's at te bottom of the notification center settings
 
thelatinist said:
No. Radio spectrum is a valuable public resource. As a nation, we allow private companies and individuals to make use of our extremely limited useful radio spectrum with their radio and television transmittters and cell towers and handsets -- but it comes with reasonable conditions. One of those conditions is that, in the event of a truly catastrophic emergency the government can use that same infrastructure to transmit essential information to the American people. It is a perfectly reasonable balance of public and private interests.
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Then allow the public to opt out if they desire to.
 
thelatinist said:
Well, it's kind of hard to extrapolate from n=0 (there has never been a Presidential alert). Since 9/11 didn't trigger an alert, there are probably pretty few things that would. I would say incoming nuclear missiles or a large-scale chemical weapons attack might trigger an alert with a shelter-in-place order. Something like that. It would have to be something both national in scale and unexpected so that it's not all over the news. It's really not going to be used in anything less significant than that.
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Thanks for the explanation. Lets hope it's never needed.
 
Weird - I got the notification of the carrier update, but I still don't have the emergency alerts under Settings->Notifications. I'm using an iPhone 5 running 6.1.
 
rorschach said:
Read up on some history. These emergency alert systems have been around since the 50s. The president has had the power for decades to issue an "Emergency Action Notification" and override all television broadcasts to address the country. That's far more expansive power than a text message. :rolleyes:
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not just TV but radio as well. Pretty much anything in the broadcast area. To me this just falls under that same area.

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TiBook550 said:
Better late than never, AT&T.

I've had this on my Verizon 4S for several months now.

I agree the AMBER alerts can be a pain sometimes, especially when they go off when you're not in a position to help. For now I deal with the minor inconvenience, since the benefits far outweigh the cons.
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yeah I turned off amber alerts real quickly. Big time since I notices they cover a much wider area that they could really be useful.

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Hastings101 said:
Glad I don't have an iPhone, I don't want that communist Obama sending me text messages about the Democrats campaigns. Blah blah Reagan blah blah.

I'd imagine if there's an impending emergency big enough to require a Presidential Alert we'll be all glad to know about it
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umm those would not fall under presidential alerts.

To me this is just an example of people not understanding what a presidential alert is.
 
thelatinist said:
You can. Just stop using public radio spectrum to carry your private communications.
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Public radio spectrum-

It is one thing to use the spectrum on public space like tv (when it was/is free) over the air, radio as it is free over the air. I pay my carrier for a service to use the cell space for communications at my own discretion, not to be forced to accept notifications from unwanted sources.

I suppose if the government wants to pay for all those services or make it free to everyone then they could force notifications through.

The point here really is the choice to accept or reject the notification. Being able to turn them on or off at the users discretion.
 
DarkLighter1985 said:
Because I don't want to be bothered by a message every single time a child I don't know goes missing?
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That's about the most heartless comment I've ever read. You do know what an Amber Alert is right? You might be the key to identifying a particular car/license plate and help return a terrified child back to his or her parents...but as long as you're not bothered?

You can schedule Do Not Disturb if sleep/silence is required...but in the course of a normal day? I assume you're joking.
 
Aldaris said:
Already have to buy insurance (or will in a few months) now he can mass message us on our 'cough' private personal phones. That's bull.
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Aldaris said:
It has nothing to do with who is in office or what party is in power
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Of course not.


Aldaris said:
It is one thing to use the spectrum on public space like tv (when it was/is free) over the air, radio as it is free over the air. I pay my carrier for a service to use the cell space for communications at my own discretion, not to be forced to accept notifications from unwanted sources.
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The broadcast alert system was not limited to "free over the air" TV and radio. Subscription TV providers (cable and satellite) are also required to participate in the Emergency Alert System. Those guidelines can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations, specifically at 47 C.F.R. § 11.11(a).

For cell providers, Congress made the program voluntary. The only reason you'll be "forced to accept" Presidential Alerts is because your cell provider voluntarily decided to participate in the alert program. 47 U.S.C. § 1201(a) ("The [FCC] shall . . . adopt relevant technical standards, protocols, procedures, and other technical requirements . . . to enable commercial mobile service alerting capability for commercial mobile service providers that voluntarily elect to transmit emergency alerts.").
 
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zorinlynx said:
It's about time.

This is useful for storm warnings, as not everyone listens to radio and TV all the time anymore.
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That's a major part of why they are doing it. Outdoor warning sirens are for just that.. people who are outdoors.

Also, people listening to sat radio in their vehicles will miss important weather info on the road, like when in Oklahoma and a rain wrapped EF-5 is about to cross paths with you and you are oblivious because you didn't get the Tornado warning.

Living in an area with a lot of severe weather each year, I welcome the alerts. I like that it only notifies you if you are in a geographic area relevant to the alert.
 
testcard said:
Anyone care to explain what a Presidential alert might contain? We don't have a President where I live :)
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Originally, Congress contemplated that the alerts would be sent during times of war, when the President decides that an alert is essential to national defense and security:

"During the continuance of a war in which the United States is engaged, the President is authorized, if he finds it necessary for the national defense and security, to direct that such communications as in his judgment may be essential to the national defense and security shall have preference or priority with any carrier subject to this chapter." (this quote is from a law passed by the US Congress in 1934, currently found at 47 U.S.C. § 606(a)).

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the US, describes Presidential Alerts like this:

"The national level EAS provides the President with a readily available and reliable means of emergency communications with the American people. It provides a capability in grave emergencies when national communications resources may have been damaged and the survival of the Nation is threatened." (this quote is from FEMA's National Warning System Operations Manual, at page 2-5, available at http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/1550_2.pdf).
 
rdinterman said:
Literally received the update and received an alert about a Flash Flood Warning the same day. Different alert tone, scare the heck out of me. :)
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I found it interesting that federal regulations prescribe the message tone and vibration pattern that a phone must produce when it receives an alert:

Message tone:
The audio attention signal must have a temporal pattern of one long tone of two (2) seconds, followed by two short tones of one (1) second each, with a half (0.5) second interval between each tone. The entire sequence must be repeated twice with a half (0.5) second interval between each repetition.

For devices that have polyphonic capabilities, the audio attention signal must consist of the fundamental frequencies of 853 Hz and 960 Hz transmitted simultaneously.

For devices with only a monophonic capability, the audio attention signal must be 960 Hz.

Vibration pattern:
The vibration cadence must have a temporal pattern of one long vibration of two (2) seconds, followed by two short vibrations of one (1) second each, with a half (0.5) second interval between each vibration. The entire sequence must be repeated twice with a half (0.5) second interval between each repetition.

(47 C.F.R. § 10.520, 10.530)
 
Imagine if they push out that annoying high pitched sound randomly every month to test the system like they do on TV and radio. That would hilarious.
 
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