[EAS] Fwd: [ChicagolandSkywarn] WEA Enabled Phones to Receive Emergency Messages

[Mike Benonis]

Unless the carriers are working directly with the school system (which seems unlikely to me), then it is highly probable that these snow day alerts are actually individual text messages sent to subscribers.  Virginia Tech (and many other schools) use similar systems for campus alerts.

The big issue with these type of text systems is that they consume a LOT of cellular bandwidth because individual messages are being sent to subscribers.  I have seen them take over ten minutes to reach my phone after the alert was actually issued!

As pointed out by Ed and Mike, the CMAS (WEA) system uses a slightly different protocol that sends the message to all devices in an area at once, and it uses very little bandwidth.

I could be wrong in your case though!

Mike

On 16 May 2012, at 11:31 , ray at electronicstheory.com wrote:

> I concur with both Ed and Mike - in that the system (or at least a similar
> system) is already in limited use in our area.  Specifically - my son's school
> district uses a similar system to blast everyone in the area letting them know
> that there is a snow day.  Oddly, I got nothing when all the tornadoes hit (and
> one of the schools was struck!).

Best regards,

Mike Benonis
Transmitter Engineer, WUVT-FM
Graduate Assistant, Wireless @ VT
KI4RIX