Simple and clear: why sometimes not all residents receive warning messages?

Jonas, who lives in Vilnius Naujamiestis micro-district, but works in Viršuliškės, did not receive a report about the fire that broke out near his house during his work. Why? According to Arnold Lukošiaus, “Tele2” Innovation Expert, although this particular situation is fictional, the warning messages are sometimes not actually received by all residents who should receive them. This may be related to the messaging technology that operates within the defined area, as well as the settings of the residents’ phones.

Notifications are sent by territory

Public authorities, including the Fire and Rescue Department (PAGD), use the Cell Broadcast (CB) server. It is a special technology that transmits warning state messages to the mobile operator’s network. In Lithuania, all mobile operators are obliged to allow the CB server to broadcast information to their customers.

“In the event of an emergency or other danger, the population warning and information system (GPIS) works in such a way that it informs the population according to which antennas (in other words, in which territory) their phones are connected to,” says A. Lukošius.

According to him, it is important to understand that warning messages via GPIS are not sent to specific persons or specific phone numbers, but to a selected area – to phones connected to antennas located in that area.

“Suppose Jonas lives in Naujamiestis, where the fire broke out, but at the time of sending the message he is at work in Viršuliškės. Since John is not in the selected alert area, he will not receive an alert because his phone is not connected to one of the antennas in that area. If it were decided to send an alarm message to all residents of Vilnius, Jonas would receive a warning message about a fire in his residential area even when he was in Viršuliškės,” explains A. Lukošius.

From the CB server to the residents’ phones, the warning messages travel automatically, without human intervention. In this way, messages can be sent at any time of the day. They can also be received by roaming customers who have arrived from abroad and connected to the Lithuanian operator’s network.

Advises to review the settings

According to A. Lukošiaus, some residents may receive warning messages not only due to territorial restrictions, but also for several other reasons. One of them is incorrect settings on the phone. It is important to enable GPIS on your device.

This can be done on phones with the iOS operating system by pressing “Settings” – “Notifications”, then you should scroll down to “Government Alerts” and enable all three alert levels – “AMBER Alerts”, “Alert Level-2” and “Alert Level-3”. On Android phones, click Settings – Security & Risk – Wireless Emergency Alerts. Then enable “Allow Alerts” and don’t forget to enable their individual levels – LT-Alert (Level 2), LT-Alert (Level 3), LT-Amber.

“The PAGD sends warning messages repeatedly, so if the resident did not receive a specific message the first time, he may receive it a little later. For example, if a resident changes his location slightly and his phone connects to the antenna through which it has been decided to broadcast warning messages, he is informed by re-sending the warning message,” says A. Lukošius.

Operator independent

“Tele2” Innovation expert adds that warning messages should not be compared with SMS messages, as their operating technologies are different. An SMS is sent to a specific number, and a public warning message is sent to everyone in the designated area at the time. Therefore, for example, a mobile operator can confirm whether a certain number has received an SMS message, but cannot tell whether the same number has received an alert message.

Most of the time, the fact that part of the population does not receive warning messages is determined by reasons unrelated to mobile operators. According to A. Lukošiaus, mobile operators ensure that the CB server can broadcast messages smoothly.

In Lithuania, residents have been informed of impending or emerging emergency situations by means of warning notices since 2012. Notifications are sent to all cell-broadcast-enabled smartphones and non-smartphones. When using a non-smart phone, you should select the 2G (GSM) network in the settings. You can check how to make all the settings correctly on your device here.

Press release