[Josh]

Apparently some Sky Mobile customers are having issues with making/receiving calls after receiving the alert.

[Nobby]

Apparently some Sky Mobile customers are having issues with making/receiving calls after receiving the alert.

"Apparently".

[bilky asko]

I'm on Three, but I think it's an inherent issue with the system that you won't get 100% coverage, even amongst compatible enabled phones with the correct type of signal.

there shouldn't be such an issue. It is a broadcast system, so if you're connected to a UK network (as in physically in the UK, so roaming with a non-UK SIM but not if you're a UK customer currently abroad) you should receive it at the same time as everyone else. If you can get a text message or phone call you should have got this.

There is a suggestion that Three has stuffed something up as there seem to be a lot of reports of their customers not getting the alert.

Three has confirmed an issue with the alert for them.

But as you state yourself, the length of the alert can be set, which covers turned off phones, but also to cover more phones that didn't receive straight away. It's more reliable than SMS alternatives, but it's wrong to suggest there's 100% coverage of compatible enabled phones with the correct signal.

---

Sky News and BBC News had coverage, GB News had the presenter and guests phone's audible in the studio. Talk TV had Trisha Goddard making a point to say that we wouldn't hear the alert on air, and we didn't. Ideal World made no reference directly before or after 3pm.

ITV did something that I didn't see.

Despite the alert not being heard on air, Hazel Irvine started the snooker coverage on BBC Two at about 15:00 by saying they were going to "keep calm and carry on".

What other coverage, planned or unplanned, did people see/hear?

TJC had the host (Derek Gibbons) giving a short explanation of what the alert is and what it's for, and advising viewers not to panic.

Ideal World made no reference to it around 3pm.

[TIGHazard]

twitter.com 

An explanation of why it didn't work for Three.

Also how it was set up (One of the test alerts was "curious llamas")

medium.com 

A history of Emergency Alerts in the UK. Part 3: The final push. | by Frazer Rho…
Following on from Part 2, we’re now in late 2020 and the national project team i…
  Source: medium.com

[BBI45]

Apparently some Sky Mobile customers are having issues with making/receiving calls after receiving the alert.

"Apparently".

twitter.com 

[Brekkie]

So I guess as it hasn't run smoothly we can expect another one in a few months.

[JAS84]

I got the alert at 1459 rather than 1500. A secondary 2G phone didn't.

2G phones would never have got it. They don't even have to be online!

My phone did get the alert, on schedule. EE network. Not sure why they're saying Android 11 and up if it works on 10.

[i.h]

I think they're just managing expectations. Anything older might work (I have an Android 10 device and an even older iPhone on like iOS 12, both got the alerts), but they don't want complaints if it doesn't.

[agentsquash]

I think they're just managing expectations. Anything older might work (I have an Android 10 device and an even older iPhone on like iOS 12, both got the alerts), but they don't want complaints if it doesn't.

Maybe it’s part of the Treasury’s new economic plan to get everyone to buy a new phone.

[mouseboy33]

The entire coverage of Alert System has been "interesting" to watch from outside the UK. Especially since it was basically a test and some got it before it was meant to come out. The US has been receiving these types of Alerts since 2012 for flood, tornado and child abuctions. You dont get them often and they dont upend your life. And it fits nicely with the existing components of the overall Alert System. The outdoor sirens and the broadcast tv alerts and automatic NOAA weather radio alerts.

www.youtube.com 

www.youtube.com