Civil Defence mobile alerts

Forums › New Zealand Mobile and Wireless › Civil Defence mobile alerts - coming soon...

michaelmurfy

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#223519 4-Oct-2017 01:56

Well - I just got a rather rude wake up call - at 1:30am my phone got triggered by a Civil Defense emergency test with a standard emergency tone (sounds like This) followed by my phone reading out the message out loud with no way of shutting it up:

And, just as I was falling asleep another one came through at 1:50am. Hearing that tone sends chills down your body especially when it is played loudly on a phone right beside you...

I heard they were planning this but didn't think they actually implemented a system yet but anyway - thanks Civil Defense as I am wide awake now, your system works.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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#1876893 4-Oct-2017 02:02

Yep I got three. Woke up to one and there were two there then the 0150hrs one.

Someone needs to be talked to about how to test a public facing system. Yes you do work on servers and things at night. But more messages to the public.

Azzura

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#1876894 4-Oct-2017 02:22

Buying an "old fashion" alarm clock tomorrow. So I can leave phone/alarm outside of the bedroom...

michaelmurfy

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#1876896 4-Oct-2017 02:25

Azzura:

Buying an "old fashion" alarm clock tomorrow. So I can leave phone/alarm outside of the bedroom...

But how would you know of impending doom that way? (or when they decide to test the system).

Azzura

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#1876897 4-Oct-2017 02:39

michaelmurfy:

Azzura:

Buying an "old fashion" alarm clock tomorrow. So I can leave phone/alarm outside of the bedroom...

But how would you know of impending doom that way? (or when they decide to test the system).

I'll take my chances...and if anyone else wants to know.

To disable in Samsung S8+ (and perhaps other android phones)...go to message top right corner 3 dots - Settings - Emergency Alert Settings.

I might still buy an old fashion alarm clock..maybe retro clocks are in again.

scottjpalmer

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#1876898 4-Oct-2017 03:35

I didn't get them. Is that because I am on 2degrees or because I have a Hong Kong variant Sony Xperia XZ Premium?

PaulBags

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#1876899 4-Oct-2017 03:40

List of capable phones (apparently)

Civil Defences FAQ on it

There's a facebook post where they apologise, they also say only some people got it. I'm guessing that despite being to all that only some regions had the system live.

The FAQ states that despite phone settings they use a channel that is permanently on and can NOT be disabled. I am so very, very not ok with this, that sound is the absolute worst sound.

Edit: message came from #CMAS#CMASALL. I'm in Christchurch, Christchurch Mass Alart System?? It came through the stock message app (Samsung Galaxy A5 2017) which isn't my set app, I killed everything possible related to emergency messages in it's settings, also killed it's notifications, permissions, etc and force closed it (can't disable). Hopefully YATTA won't pick these up the same, also hopefully it'll still work with the stock app so thoroughly shut down.

I guess I'll be calling in sick tomorrow, quarter to 4 and I still can't sleep...

Edit2: Vodafones blacklist won't accept #CMAS#CMASALL as a number to block :p. I somehow doubt they'll get back to my complaint on that. Also contacted Samsung support about it being an unblockable channel apparently, told them if they don't update their firmware to make it blockable they can have their phone back. I doubt they'll give me my money back through, seriously considering selling it & just not having a phone anymore.

Edit3: And of course, we can all blame Gerry Brownlee.

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PaulBags

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#1876900 4-Oct-2017 04:11

Anyone know of any way to actually delete that sound off of my phone? Non-root? I don't ever want to hear sounds like that again.

nzfatmatt

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#1876918 4-Oct-2017 06:48

PaulBags: Anyone know of any way to actually delete that sound off of my phone? Non-root? I don't ever want to hear sounds like that again.

There's one way, but throwing our phone at the Minister of Civil Defence would lead to arrest and mean we don't have a phone anymore!

johny99

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#1876919 4-Oct-2017 06:53

Why Test this in the small hours , sure if it was just the backend. A national news story the night before with a Test at midday the next day. Common sense is not common......bet the team behind this are on top dollar.

frankv

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#1876921 4-Oct-2017 07:10

News this morning says it was being developed in Europe, so was being tested in the middle of their day.

davidcole

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#1876924 4-Oct-2017 07:21

So was it everywhere? I was Lower Hutt based on 2Deg, and nada.

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profrink

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#1876926 4-Oct-2017 07:22

Thankfully on iOS if the device is in silent mode the sound for these don't override that setting. But the vibrate pattern is very long so it was enough to eventually wake me up.

Cool to see they are getting things going, but yeah seriously poor way to execute a test.

andrewNZ

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#1876927 4-Oct-2017 07:23

A couple of news stories claim it was only phones on the Vodafone network, but not Vodafones fault

michaelmurfy

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#1876928 4-Oct-2017 07:24

Well I used up all the snoozes on my alarm clock this morning. Why didn't I bring my work laptop home!

PaulBags: Anyone know of any way to actually delete that sound off of my phone? Non-root? I don't ever want to hear sounds like that again.

Sorry to break it to you but you can't as it is a built in feature of most phones.

scottjpalmer: I didn't get them. Is that because I am on 2degrees or because I have a Hong Kong variant Sony Xperia XZ Premium?

Wish you got it after that tweet. I'll let them know they can test on you going forward but all the tweets I've seen (and on this Stuff article - furthermore I'm famous on there now) it looks like everyone was a Vodafone customer.

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#1876938 4-Oct-2017 07:56

profrink: Thankfully on iOS if the device is in silent mode the sound for these don't override that setting.

That's definately an iOS bug as that's not how it's supposed to operate.

There should not be any way to disable or override the notifications or alert on any phone - that's the whole point of the system and the specifications.

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