Millions of phones and tablets across the province were supposed to ping at the same time on Monday, as Canada started rolling out its new National Public Alert System to mobile devices but many cellphone users never got a notification.
“I’m having a look and I don’t really see that I did. I have been hearing about it for awhile and I heard that it was going to happen,” said Brenda Higgins.
The national warning system was brought in to warn the public of imminent threats, such as tornadoes, floods, fires, water contamination and amber alerts and all major cellphone carriers were supposed to be included.
READ MORE: Canadians to receive mobile emergency alert this week: Here’s what we know
“In those cases, residents will receive a message with some kind of directive, something like ‘Take shelter immediately,’ or ‘Evacuate the area.’
The beeping sound is nothing new to those who watch TV and listen to the radio. The national public alerting system has been around since 2014.
“Given the fact that most Canadians nowadays have some kind of wireless device with them, this is kind of the next natural step in the program,” added Denoble.
While many at the mall said they never received anything, they did receive a notification text message a couple of weeks ago.
“I had a message from Bell Canada regarding this, and ever since then, I haven’t heard anything, I didn’t get it today,” said Derrill Galant.
Of the people that CHEX spoke to, those who had Rogers and Chatr say they received the alert.
“I was sitting over yonder having a coffee and suddenly, my phone gave the alarm,” said Bob McBride.
Others who spoke to CHEX who use some other service providers including Telus, did not receive the message.
The test was also scheduled in Quebec at 9:55 a.m. on Monday morning, but the notification didn’t go off due to an error in the coding in the alert-ready system.
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