Civil Defence mobile alerts

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#1908130 26-Nov-2017 19:43

Well, given the system needs to know the cellsites IDs in the area you wish to broadcast to.

And a Sure signal is essentially an ap extender using a internet connection (that also can't handle handovers well) it'll almost be a given it can't relay broadcasts unless they interact with a cell site directly too I'd say.

Oblivian

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#1908131 26-Nov-2017 19:47

Kris89: No message here.

Galaxy S7 G930F. Up to date stock Telstra firmware (7.0), and Cell Broadcast turned on in message settings.

Sounds like perhaps the 4 digit CB channel number is a new thing requiring special support?

Its a pity they couldnt also broadcast on the regular 3 digit CB channels as well (iirc pretty much every gsm phone in the last 10+ years supports these).

Ideally yes, but the system isn't the standard cell broadcast configuration.

If you do some background checks the CB was a GSM protocol. And other providers have since branched away to other methods

If it's Telstra it probably won't get an update to change/enable the channel for you as it's not TNZ/VNZ :)

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#1908134 26-Nov-2017 19:55

davidcole: Mother’s Samsung j5 didn’t receive it. I think it’s one year old. Assuming the last software update didn’t make this feature work.

Pity since she lives alone.

you might find that on the J5 its disabled. go into the messages app on her phone click on More at the top, then settings, then click on more settings and ensure Cell Broadcast is enabled.

Yabanize

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#1908135 26-Nov-2017 19:58

Basically they used the same Cell Broadcast channel the USA uses for Presidential Alerts although no president over there has ever issued an alert

alasta

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#1908136 26-Nov-2017 19:58

I can confirm that the swiping down thing works on my iPhone, however I would have had no idea to try that until I read the suggestions on this thread.

I think most people will see the message disappear within the one second that it takes Touch ID to authenticate, and then assume there is no way to get it back to read it. This severely limits the usefulness of the service.

PaulBags

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#1908137 26-Nov-2017 19:59

HA, never got it... *facepalm*. Maybe if they want it to work reliably it should be it's own protected system app, rather than part of Samsungs stock messages app? Until then it seems you can disable it quite easily by nerfing Messages - something people might do inadvertently if they don't want Samsungs sms app.

Now I'd turn it back on after the test, but, it's not as simple as turning alerts on/off and I don't want Samsungs SMS app to have all those permissions anyway. And if the alerts were better designed I wouldn't have turned them off in the first place.

Hopefully progress marches forward and this improves, not holding my breath through.

Oblivian

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#1908138 26-Nov-2017 20:00

l43a2:
davidcole: Mother’s Samsung j5 didn’t receive it. I think it’s one year old. Assuming the last software update didn’t make this feature work.

Pity since she lives alone.

you might find that on the J5 its disabled. go into the messages app on her phone click on More at the top, then settings, then click on more settings and ensure Cell Broadcast is enabled.

Forget the settings on androids. It's independent from cell broadcast options the way it's implemented.

Your phones may show optional settings used in other countries, but in New Zealand we will use a special broadcast channel that is permanently on.

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Rushmere

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#1908139 26-Nov-2017 20:01

Oblivian: Well, given the system needs to know the cellsites IDs in the area you wish to broadcast to.

And a Sure signal is essentially an ap extender using a internet connection (that also can't handle handovers well) it'll almost be a given it can't relay broadcasts unless they interact with a cell site directly too I'd say.

Yes, I'm presuming the Sure Signal is the reason why it didn't work.

I've filled out Civil Defence's feedback form to let them know about the issue, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not expected to work.

Kris89

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#1908140 26-Nov-2017 20:07

Oblivian:
Kris89: No message here.

Galaxy S7 G930F. Up to date stock Telstra firmware (7.0), and Cell Broadcast turned on in message settings.

Sounds like perhaps the 4 digit CB channel number is a new thing requiring special support?

Its a pity they couldnt also broadcast on the regular 3 digit CB channels as well (iirc pretty much every gsm phone in the last 10+ years supports these).

Ideally yes, but the system isn't the standard cell broadcast configuration.

If you do some background checks the CB was a GSM protocol. And other providers have since branched away to other methods

If it's Telstra it probably won't get an update to change/enable the channel for you as it's not TNZ/VNZ :)

Surely if the idea is to reach as many people as possible, requiring some new technology (or extension to existing technology that requires software updates) is daft when 20 year old ubiqutous CB pretty much suits the task?

At least, alerts should also be pushed as "standard" CB messages. Sure you might not get a klaxon blaring, but at least you get a sms-like message...

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#1908141 26-Nov-2017 20:10

My Vodafone branded phone didn’t get it, although my iPhone did.

freitasm

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#1908155 26-Nov-2017 20:56

@PaulBags: HA, never got it... *facepalm*. Maybe if they want it to work reliably it should be it's own protected system app, rather than part of Samsungs stock messages app? Until then it seems you can disable it quite easily by nerfing Messages - something people might do inadvertently if they don't want Samsungs sms app.

I don't think this used the default SMS app - I actually use Signal and the broadcast message appeared on a model dialog, over the screen (see my previous screenshot).

@PaulBags: Now I'd turn it back on after the test, but, it's not as simple as turning alerts on/off and I don't want Samsungs SMS app to have all those permissions anyway. And if the alerts were better designed I wouldn't have turned them off in the first place.

Hopefully progress marches forward and this improves, not holding my breath through.

You folks make it look like it's something that you will receive every day, and since you don't like the way the message is presented then you want it off.

It's for EMERGENCIES. It may never be used. And if it is used it may save your lives. Some of the comments I am reading here are unbelievable. Stuff that you only expect to read from survivalists in the US that want to "stick to the government, they want to take our guns!"

freitasm

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#1908156 26-Nov-2017 20:58

@mattwnz: My Vodafone branded phone didn’t get it, although my iPhone did.

Is your Vodafone branded phone in the list of compatible devices? Is it updated?

DjShadow

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#1908157 26-Nov-2017 21:04

I've been watching a stream of comments in a couple of facebook groups where the question is "Did you receive the alert?"

There are a lot of people saying no, makes me wonder if they are running Androids with out of date software or devices that are only a few years old but not receiving any further updates.

E.g there is a lady I'm working with tonight and her phone didn't get the update, its a Samsung Prime by the looks of it but its vodafone firmware dates back to early 2016. I pushed it to do updates then we ended up doing about 5 firmware updates on it to get it up to date. Of course need to wait for the next nationwide test to see if that did the job.

freitasm

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#1908161 26-Nov-2017 21:06

Probably not. Look at the link I posted just before for a list of compatible phones.

PaulBags

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#1908163 26-Nov-2017 21:12

freitasm:
@PaulBags: HA, never got it... *facepalm*. Maybe if they want it to work reliably it should be it's own protected system app, rather than part of Samsungs stock messages app? Until then it seems you can disable it quite easily by nerfing Messages - something people might do inadvertently if they don't want Samsungs sms app.

I don't think this used the default SMS app - I actually use Signal and the broadcast message appeared on a model dialog, over the screen (see my previous screenshot).

@PaulBags: Now I'd turn it back on after the test, but, it's not as simple as turning alerts on/off and I don't want Samsungs SMS app to have all those permissions anyway. And if the alerts were better designed I wouldn't have turned them off in the first place.

Hopefully progress marches forward and this improves, not holding my breath through.

You folks make it look like it's something that you will receive every day, and since you don't like the way the message is presented then you want it off.

It's for EMERGENCIES. It may never be used. And if it is used it may save your lives. Some of the comments I am reading here are unbelievable. Stuff that you only expect to read from survivalists in the US that want to "stick to the government, they want to take our guns!"

It does use the default app (disabling it's permissions was how I disabled alerts - and it's not clear at all that if you do so that will happen), and if you click the message without reading it to shut the sound up you get taken to the default app - which if you don't use it then doesn't actually show the message, instead it asks you to make it the default and asks for permissions. So, not at all helpful in an emergency.

You, like everyone pre-thread closure, completely miss the point. At some indeterminate point in the future when it actually goes off in a real emergency I will have forgotten all of this, and find myself in the same position again - that is spending ten minutes trying to figure out what happened. I'm complaining because it doesn't work, I want it to work, and it doesn't currently work. And until it does work I'm no worse off having it off.

Is that any clearer? Or are people who don't understand going to keep going on about how they know better even though they don't even understand the argument?

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