[EAS] Public officials missing the qualifiers about WEA 2.0/3.0

[Sean Donelan]

http://cjo.harriscountytx.gov/Portals/54/Documents/Newsroom-Documents/Harris%20Counts%20Lauds%20Wireless%20Emergency%20Alert%20Upgrades.pdf?ver=2019-12-19-090934-280
[...] "The release of these alert improvements immediately gives local 
public safety officials better tools to save lives and bring Wireless 
Emergency Alerts in line with today's technology," [...]

What's the saying about over-promise and under-deliver?

The WEA improvements are needed, but are not immediate. It will take 
several years for a majority of consumers to upgrade to new cell phones.

Some WEA 2.0 enhancements have been latent in phone software for a 
couple of generations, i.e. other countries were already using long alert 
text in 4G/LTE networks. But other enhancements are brand-new, like the 
enhanced device-based geo-fencing. I think the U.S. is the first country 
to implement cell-broadcast device-based geo-fencing for alerts.

Public officials should be careful about over-promising in their public 
statements. They should also be careful about drawing tiny polygons in 
alert origination software. It won't work the way some officials think.

The original FEMA IPAWS announcement about WEA enhancements

https://www.fema.gov/integrated-public-alert-warning-system
[...]
These enhancements require more than just the update to IPAWS. They 
require updates to wireless providers' nationwide networks and customer 
phones, and to software that alerting authorities use to send alerts.
[...]