Sammy T

Eek, it's like the hot seat at the White House!

Pollyana

Except they get paid a lot more than I do!!

Pomster

I have a pre-paid, live in Melb, and got a warning last year during the Feb bushfires, so the mass texting does work.

We realised that they were sent by network.
First was telstra, then Vodaphone, then Virgin...not sure about others. perhaps Telstra customers are more valuable!!!

Pollyana

Thats interesting, I'll see if I can get anymore on the network thing. I know this system is oeprated by Telstra but what the order of priority is I have no idea, thats not part of our information.

Pollyana

They reckon it shouldnt make a difference what network you are on, but I haven't been able to find out in what order the calls go out, sorry.

==================================

For anyone in the Esk, Qld area (or anyone who has a mobile phone registered in that area) -
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...11/2769268.htm

Buzzy--Bee

Hi (mainly aimed at Polly!)

I started this thread as the "whats the weather like" thread had a sub-conversation going about emergency alerts, and I reckon it needed another thread.

My wife (on Optus mobile) receives messages from "CB messages" whenever we are in rural Victoria, which simply contain the name of the area that we are in. We assume that these are the local alert system connecting with the phone on case it needs to send us an emergency text?

I don't get the same messages on Telstra mobile though.

BB

Pollyana

I think i did do an EA thread a while back, I'll see if I can find it

Don't know who those message are from that your wife gets. the government Emergency Alert system doesn't send out anything like that. Victoria have used it for fires, several times, and for floods (I think) but it doesn't do test messages.
Basically when the operator sends an EA message it goes to Telstra, then out to all mobile active in the area which the operator has mapped out. Mobiles check in automatically with towers as you move through their area and ther's no need for a message. If an emergency message is sent to the area you're in, then your phones will both get it -as long as they have a signal of course -as they are sent to all three networks, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, and all other providers use one of those three networks.

Maybe the telecom co your wife is with has a check-in thing though -similar to my UK Orange phone, when I change States here I get a message on the phone with my Uk sim card in telling me "Welcome to Australia"

Pollyana

Merging Buzzy-Bee's query with my old thread. I'll make this a sticky and will try to up date it shortly!

EA now works on location-based for mobile, so you get text messages based on the physical location of your phone, rather than billing address, which is what it worked on originally. Landlines still go by billing address. So if you are on holiday in Aus with a UK mobile with roaming switched on, you will get the alerts.

Apart from that the basic Emergency Alert system hasn't changed over the last few years though, except that the operators have got more practice in pressing the button!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. If I don't know the answer, I can check at work and find out for you.

Emergency Alert. Be Warned. Be Informed.