— Dave D Garand (@DaveInOrleans) June 2, 2019
With another tornado ripping through Ottawa yesterday, many people found they didn’t get the alert on their mobile phones, or got it too late. Perversely, a lot of people far from the affected area did get the alert.
The Alert Ready website indicates that in order to receive the alerts, you need to have a modern phone, with recently updated software, and it must be connected to an LTE network.
… that last requirement, LTE service, is a bit tough in rural areas, where we’re lucky to have any cellular service. Unfortunately WiFi, nor EDGE, nor 3G connections are supported in the alerting system, and if LTE isn’t available, or you’re not in range – what can you do?
Simple: Alertable. It’s a free app for your phone that will receive alerts over any data network – including WiFi. And since now you’ve got solid WiFi from Community Fibre, it might be a good idea to install the app today! It’s available for both Apple iOS and Google Android.