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Cellphone Emergency Alerts Are Outdated...ThirtyEight.com

I would like to see these alerts become more useful, but people will turn them off if they become too frequent.

I think the use of the term "outdated" in the title is misleading. "Outdated" would imply that there is something newer and better that provides the same type of service. If there is, it was not mentioned in the article. The term "lacking" or "needs improvement" would have been more clear.

Here in San Diego County, CA, we have a special app for emergency information including alerts. The alerts are limited to one line on the opening screen, but tapping on them brings up a detailed screen with much more text and links to government sites and related twitter feeds.

There are also several other sections; Planning, Preparing, Disaster Info, Maps, Shelters, Resources, Assistance, and Guidance. It is quite comprehensive. One downside is that people have to download the app so lots of people don't have it. I don't see a solution for that, unfortunately.

Here in Anne Arundel County, we have a system called "Code Red" that sends alerts via voice (including land lines, which automatically receive the alerts), text and emails, and can include photos. This seems to cover the "problems" listed in the article. From the County description:

"Residents can sign up to receive alerts via cell phone call, text message, and/or email. Email alerts may contain a picture if pertinent to the situation (i.e. missing person, crime suspect, etc). The County intends to only activate the system in true emergency situations such as;

Security alerts
Hazardous chemical spill or release
Missing persons
Evacuations
Water system concerns
Hazardous weather

Because CodeRED system uses the 911 database, only land-line numbers (list and unlisted) are automatically included in the system. If you have a cellular or Voice over IP number and would like to be notified on that device, or an email notification, you must register those cellular numbers and email addresses. . ."

For the first three items, why not use standard sms/multi media format. 140 characters and pictures or video verses 90. It also reaches most (effectively all?) cell phones.

If they don't at least speak some English, they are a small minority. Worst case, they get someone to read it for them.

For the last item, too much information going to places with questionable need for it.

Well a normal message requires the sender to have the contact details of the user or something the user have to actively do (download a app, send contact information over, etc.)

The cellphone alert is standardized thing on newer phones. In my country it's turned on by default, when you get a phone.

I would like to see all the life-and-death stuff came though the same channel instead of the current patchwork of apps and feeds. Wildfires, flash floods, tornado alerts, evacuation notices, etc. all come through different apps. I'd also like to see mandatory WEA service from all mobile providers.

Also, a text only message with the important details and a link to a website for more information seems to be the best solution. In a disaster, mobile bandwidth tends to be overloaded by everybody scrambling for information.

I think SMS/multimedia message only takes the phone number. The carrier already has that and knows roughly where it is based on which towers it is connected to.

While this isn't my area of professional expertise, I understand that the carrier sends these broadcast messages once, addressed and routed in a way to reach every device connected to their network via specific cell sites. In other words, the bandwidth that would be used by a multimedia broadcast would be very small.

Even if I'm wrong about that, there are two additional factors to consider. SMS messages (even if they include pictures) use much less bandwidth than calls. Also, mobile carriers use traffic engineering techniques to prioritize messages appropriately.

For as large of an infrastructure as NYC has they should have been able to get the broadcast out.

This technology is not outdated, it is actually up to date. The error literally could be human and someone had composed the message and just not hit send. More realistically the the Message was scheduled and someone had put the wrong dates in. A very human mistake. Bad, but understandable.