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'There was no rhyme or reason to it'

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The GNWT tested the Alert Ready warning system in Wednesday. This is the message many people received on the mobile devices, but a large number of phones remained silent. James O'Connor/NNSL photo

A live test of the territory's emergency alert system had mixed results.

The GNWT tested the Alert Ready warning system in Wednesday. This is the message many people received on the mobile devices, but a large number of phones remained silent.
James O'Connor/NNSL photo

The director of public safety at the department of Municipal and Community Affairs has confirmed that a number of devices did not receive the emergency alert sent out at 1:55 p.m. on Wednesday.

“Some of the devices didn't receive the alert and we're really not sure what that's all about,” Kevin Brezinski said after the alert went out Wednesday afternoon.

“I'm anxiously awaiting some of the feedback from Pelmorex, who are the owners and operators of the national system, and of course, they're anxiously awaiting a good dialogue with the cell service providers."

The wireless alert was sent and received by all wireless services providers in the territory, and all carriers confirmed delivering the alert over their networks, said Brezinski.

It is unclear why some devices got the message and others didn't.

“There was no rhyme or reason to it,” said Brezinski.

In the Yellowknifer offices, just three out of 17 people surveyed received the alert on their mobile phones.

Two of them said the message disappeared as soon as they touched their home screens.

Telus experienced problems in Manitoba when that province tested it's alert system earlier in the day, said Brezinski. Similarly, some compatible Telus devices in NWT didn't get the emergency alert.

Brezinski said there is no way of knowing exactly how many devices received the alert.

He said this is because the number of devices carried by any one service provider is proprietary information and companies are “very protective of that.”

The Alert Ready system is being tested in every province and territory except Nunavut this week, with notices and a tone broadcasting over mobile phones, Apple watches, radios, TVs and other devices.

Ontario and Quebec also reported problems getting the warning out on mobile devices.

In Quebec, an incorrect space inserted into the coding prevented the text message warning from reaching mobile devices, according to the Alert Ready website.

Alert Ready is expected to be fully implemented in 2019.

When that happens, the warning system will allow federal, territorial and provincial governments to issue public alerts about potentially life-threatening situations, such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks and Amber alerts for missing children.

But not all mobile devices will be compatible with the system.

In order for a phone to receive an alert, states Alert Ready, it must be a smartphone, be “wireless public alerting-compatible,” and connected to an LTE cellular network at the time the alert is issued.

Devices on airplane mode will not receive alerts.

Brezinski said a phone's area code should not matter: devices receiving a signal within the emergency zone are supposed to receive the warning message.

The plan is for real alerts to include information about what actions need to be taken, such as “evacuate the area,” or “seek shelter.”

Brezinski said the GNWT will carry out another Alert Ready test in the next six months.