60% of cellphones received emergency alert test in Manitoba, province blames service providers

The Manitoba government is blaming the cellphone service providers after only some phones received the emergency alert test on Wednesday afternoon.

The testing was ordered by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to distribute warnings of imminent safety threats, such as tornadoes, floods, Amber Alerts or terrorist threats.

Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said about 60 per cent of the phones in the province received the alert.

“I’m very pleased to say, from everything I understand, that through emergency measures, our system worked 100 per cent so the issue was not with the system that we provided, it had to do with the providers themselves,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I'm very pleased to say, from everything I understand, that through emergency measures, our system worked 100 per cent so the issue was not with the system that we provided, it had to do with the providers themselves," he said.

Schuler said one of the providers didn’t send out the alert at all.

“That’s why you have a test,” he said. “We understand that one of the carriers of the technology didn’t work at all and I understand that was Telus so they have some work to do on their side.”

Global News was at CF Polo Park to see how shoppers responded. Only some of the phones went off, while others remained silent.

In the Global Newsroom, 60 per cent of the phones were sent the alert.

Out of 10 phones, six went off with the warning while four didn’t.

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All six that did get the alert were on the Rogers network.

Out of the four that didn’t work, two are on the Rogers network, one is with Telus while the other is on Bell MTS.

Rogers released a checklist for customers who did not receive the alert to ensure they receive future alerts.

The checklist included: making sure your device is on the list of compatible devices, installing any updates available for your device, and ensuring your device is connected to the LTE network and not on airplane mode.

The CRTC said Wednesday they’re not concerned about the mixed emergency test results, as it’s the reason why they’re testing the system and they’ll get it working.

Other provinces also were tested Wednesday like Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward island Newfoundland and Labrador,, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

Mobile users in Ontario and Quebec were supposed to receive alerts on their devices Monday as part of a test of the regulator-mandated warning system, which was supposed to be fully in place by April 6.

No alerts were registered on devices in Quebec.

The Ontario test alert at 1:55 p.m. ET also saw some hiccups, with many Twitter users saying they did not get the alerts, while others did.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ordered wireless providers to implement the system to distribute warnings of imminent safety threats, such as tornadoes, floods, Amber Alerts or terrorist threats.