Less than 25 minutes before the sirens go off!

[Zigenare]

I wonder when the first "real" alert will be issued and for what...

Got to keep the masses subservient and twitchy...

[dsc]

I don't really understand a quick emergency system which requires 4g at least and a specific android / mac system version. You'll miss a fairly large part of the population that way, wouldn't a simple text msg with details be enough?

[WTFH]

I wonder when the first "real" alert will be issued and for what...

Got to keep the masses subservient and twitchy...

In time for the next general election.

[Paralytic]

A pigeon flew into my window around 5 past 3pm yesterday - does anyone know if that was related to this event?

[xoggoth]

It was. To remind you of the warning flag that would shortly be waved from the hill near you.

[SueEllen]

I don't really understand a quick emergency system which requires 4g at least and a specific android / mac system version. You'll miss a fairly large part of the population that way, wouldn't a simple text msg with details be enough?

Nope.

SMS is not guaranteed to arrive at a specific time.

There was one end of year I got 2 weeks of text messages sent to my phone as clearly the mobile operator had thought they hadn't been delivered. I only realised what was happening when I got in touch with a couple of friends who had the same issue.

[vetran]

When does the all clear sound so I can come out the basement?

nah stay, hopefully the broadband will be cut off !

[d000hg]

Nope.

SMS is not guaranteed to arrive at a specific time.

There was one end of year I got 2 weeks of text messages sent to my phone as clearly the mobile operator had thought they hadn't been delivered. I only realised what was happening when I got in touch with a couple of friends who had the same issue.

Yeah but you could do SMS as well as a backup. If it's a genuine emergency use everything you can.

[vetran]

Nope.

SMS is not guaranteed to arrive at a specific time.

There was one end of year I got 2 weeks of text messages sent to my phone as clearly the mobile operator had thought they hadn't been delivered. I only realised what was happening when I got in touch with a couple of friends who had the same issue.

Indeed SMS delivery speed is not guaranteed

https://thesmsworks.co.uk/blog/what-...delays-to-sms/

key would be probably this seeing it was the whole country:

Back in 2004, UK mobile phone networks really struggled to keep up with SMS demand. Volumes of texts were exploding and there were very regular delays in receiving texts.

It was incredibly frustrating.

But since then, the networks have massively increased their capacity and SMS volumes have now been in steep decline since 2012. So delays caused by network traffic are very rare and would only normally be caused by huge number of people attending a large event.

This places huge numbers of people in one cell coverage so can cause bottlenecks and delays in SMS traffic.

[WTFH]

If they want the whole country to get a message of a terrible emergency, why not construct a device that would make a bright flash of light in the sky. Doesn't matter what network you're on, or if there's mobile signal.
That flash could be followed with a really loud noise (for anyone who didn't see the flash), and then if there was some way of getting a blast of wind/heat.
And then we'd all be alerted to the fact that something was really badly wrong.

Maybe make Slough the hypocentre for this alert.