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Emergency Broadcast System Coming To Cell Phones

Posted by samzenpus on from the set-your-emergency-to-vibrate dept.

gambit3 writes "The Emergency Broadcast System that interrupts TV programming in times of crisis is jumping to a new format where it might be able to reach you better — on your cell phone. The communications company Alcatel-Lucent announced Tuesday that it's creating a Broadcast Message Center that will allow government agencies to send cell phone users specific information in the event of a local, state or national emergency. It will be similar to the TV alerts in that the text messages will be geographically targeted for areas where a tornado alert or major road closure, for example, is in effect."

2 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. I'm not looking forward to... by Jamori · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...random texts once a week waking me up at 3am indicating that:

    "This is a test of the local emergency cell phone text system. This is only a test. If this had been an actual emergency, hopefully you haven't disabled text alerts in the middle of the night after receiving all our obnoxious tests."

  2. A typical "Emergency tweet" by goffster · · Score: 4, Funny

    OMG! A toradno iz comin. proced 2 teh nearest evacushun sheltr