Phones are everywhere and provide a versatile and fundamental tool for communication, whether that’s through voice or text or email or social. It’s not difficult to get in contact with someone when you need to, because everyone has a phone.
But what happens when the government needs to contact you? Not for voting or even for tax, but rather an emergency… what then?
Police already have SMS at their disposal with area-focused text message alerts, not to mention a tech savvy live stream system for emergency calls in NSW. But the Australian government is working on something bigger, and could be very useful for bushfire season and other calamitous events.
The concept will see the government able to broadcast emergency alerts as part of its “AusAlert” system, a new national emergency warning that can use cell broadcast technology to send an alert to every phone regardless of carrier.
Cell broadcast technology essentially directs a message at radio cells, which in turn can talk to an entire network, making it possible to send a message to thousands of devices quickly without needing to go to a specific network.
The government can use AusAlert in larger amounts, and even make it targeted to a specific area, covering a single building. It basically means an emergency message can be highly specific or nationwide, and it’s fast, arriving on devices at practically the same time.
It’s technically not an SMS, and devices may not actually need an active SIM card in them to receive the message.
Interestingly, the alert will likely include a loud noise and a vibrating haptic response when it happens, alarming a phone owner and alerting them to on-screen activity.
The government hasn’t said what will happen when the alert is triggered and headphones are attached. Our hope is that it doesn’t hit your ears with a blistering sound, and our guess is it won’t, given Australia isn’t the first place cell broadcast has been used.
However, Australians will see a few tests in the coming months, with a nationwide test kicking off on Monday July 27, occurring at 2PM AEST for ACT, NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, and Victoria, while 1.30PM will see it fired off for the Northern Territory and South Australia, and then 12pm AWST for WA (and 11AM for Christmas Island).
In short, at roughly 2PM Sydney time on July 27, the government will run a nationwide demo triggering a test alert to ensure the system works.
Depending on where you are, you may also find other tests throughout the country, such as on June 15 in Launceston (TAS), June 17 in Liverpool (NSW), June 18 in Geelong (VIC), and June 20 in Port Lincoln (SA).
