AlertReady test scheduled for Wednesday: province

A smartphone and a television receive visual and audio alerts to test Alert Ready, a national public alert system Monday, May 7, 2018 in Montreal.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Televisions, radios and wireless devices across Manitoba are set to sound an alert in a push to test and improve AlertReady, the province’s National Public Alerting System.

The Manitoba government said in a news release the test is scheduled on multiple channels of communication for Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 1:55 p.m. CST.

The province said testing is an important and necessary part of any public alerting system.

“It provides an opportunity to validate and improve the end-to-end performance and reliability of the system to ensure it operates as it is intended on TV, radio and compatible wireless devices. Test alerts also educate the public on what an emergency alert will look and sound like in the event of a life-threatening situation,” the news release said.

The province said the test alert will be distributed on TV, radio and compatible wireless devices. However, not all Manitobans will receive the test alert on their mobile devices for a variety of reasons, including device compatibility, connection to an LTE network, cell tower coverage, and device software and settings.

Anyone looking for more information about the public alerting system and Wednesday’s test alert can visit AlertReady’s website.