AT&T Mobility customers using iPhone 5 and 4S have begun receiving a software update that includes Wireless Emergency Alerts.
These are government-issued safety messages that include AMBER Alerts, emergency alerts – such as man-made or natural disasters, and Presidential alerts.
Wireless Emergency Alerts are part of the FCC’s CMAS program and are mandated by law. You may turn off alerts (except for Presidential alerts) if you choose. Go to Settings >Notifications>Turn On/Off.
When the software update is delivered to your phone, you will see a message that states “Carrier Settings Update: new settings required for your device have been installed.” After that, your iPhone 5 or 4S will receive all Wireless Emergency Alerts by default.
While the software update is mandatory, you are not charged for the data to deliver it and Wireless Emergency Alerts will never count against your messaging plan. The update will be sent to users with iOS 6.1 or higher. Customers on eligible hardware but not on iOS6.1.x will not receive the carrier update over-the-air. When they next update their software via iTunes, the update will include the current carrier settings.
Source: AT&T Consumer Blog
Related articles:
T-Mobile surprises customers with U.S. Presidential Emergency Alert ahead of Nov. 9 test – November 4, 2011
U.S. gov’t mandates special chip in all cellphones; users can’t opt out of presidential messages – May 11, 2011
Hope it works better than Verizon’s WEA system. They were sending bogus tornado warnings a few months ago, and never explained why the problem occurred.
http://ryansmorningblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/false-tornado-warning.html
Queue the anti-government paranoia on MDN…already happening.
People fear things they don’t understand and also many fear change.
And then there are those things that we fear because we understand them.
What paranoia?
Anyway, presidential notifications like “I’M WATCHING YOU” are only fun. And no wonder you can switch it off.
(Editing comments is not allowed, so correction is here: obviously, I meant that “you can *not* switch it off”. ;))
kingmel – The “government” (i.e., the National Weather Service) had nothing to do with the bogus tornado warnings. It was only a problem on Verizon phones.
The WEA system needs to be reliable. It should send accurate messages during legitimate emergencies, and refrain from sending bogus warnings – or it will undermine public confidence in the system.
After recent events, I believe in little paranoia is not only justified, it is the logical response.
Does anyone know how wide the net is for AMBER Alerts. I received one that was in my state, but was hundreds of miles away. I guess it could be helpful, but it didn’t seem like it at the time.
Hmmm if the government is not spying on citizens, then the prez has access to campaign on my iPhone? I want government out of my life for crying out loud….
No such update has been delivered to my phone.
I just saw the notice this morning. Got a creepy feeling about it. I don’t like folks putting things on my phone remotely without my permission.
Good. Just keep your head buried in the sand when danger is near and don’t try to follow life saving directions. It is always better to be ignorant of the danger, right?
I am very aware of the danger. Not sure you are.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you can alway read the info on what you are about to download and decide if you want it or not. Reading is such a lost skill these days.
This was a no opt out update and I know when danger is near. I have escaped natural and man made disasters. I don’t need a text telling me when a hurricane is approaching. I have escaped musim detention when my partners were killed. I was raised and mentored well
Good for you. You are a pinnacle of strength and can stand alone. You always have the option of not upgrading your software. Just don’t push the upgrade button and remain as your own island in a sea of real people who need to work together as communities to take care of themselves and their lesser capable fellow men.
No man is an island…. never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
I think we’re Donne here
Soare you writing these witty replies before you jerk off or while your wanking?
Apparently, you are (you’re) almost an expert. Although you missed a space in “So are . . .” and you either don’t know the difference between: you’re and your, or you were afraid that you might miss a beat while typing with one hand and just let it go.
Whatever else you might have to say on the matter, no one is able to opt out of the software update if they are running a current version of the OS on their phone.
If I could opt out, then I’d have nothing to say about it because it was a service that I could choose to consume. The principle at issue here is whether the government has the right to decide what the citizens will get from the government or whether the citizens do. For many of us, this is an inappropriate use of governmental powers. This program was started under Bush and executed under Obama, so neither party can excuse its partisans.
Reech, you’re an idiot. “I know when danger is near”, does your spidey sense let you know when you have less than 10 minutes to escape an oncoming tornado?
And by musim, to you mean Muslim? What is musim detention? Where you held after class by a woman in a burkha?
And what does being raised well have to do with receiving an Amber Alert. Do you think that being on the look out for an abducted child is not a function of a concerned citizenry?
I’ve got a 3GS, and I saw that “Carrier Settings Update” message this morning.
This will make it much easier to alert everyone when they declare martial law. Oh wait, I forgot to take off my tin foil hat.
What a wonderful feature that AT&T and the government are bringing to the people.
That’s better. I would not want to cause NSA any undue concern.
We here at Illuminati4U.com appreciate your cooperation.
Is this the ‘organization’ you started in your mother’s basement? Is your cat the vice president too?
gold, Jerry, gold.
So users can turn off weather alerts and happily get sucked into a tornado, but you can’t turn off “presidential alerts”?! Who gives a flying f*** what the president says? It’s all smoke and mirrors.
Presidential alerts would be things like Declaring War, or, Incoming!, not things like Vote For Me or Else.
Ok the good news is that my old 3G is still secure against prying government.
And I’m sure there is no way the Govt can locate me or Brick my phone remotely in order to start a revolution.
I don’t want this and if it’s unavoidable, which it seems to be, is there anyway to deconstruct it to find out what it actually does? Not that I’m worried about my privacy or anything… It should be ok to reverse engineer or decompile after all if AT&T and gov are doing nothing wrong, they’ll have nothing to hide. (Pretty sure I’ve heard that logic somewhere before…)
And another thing – why does my phone need to be updated to receive a fracking text message.??
Don’t carry a cell phone and you don’t have o worry about it.
The ‘Government Alerts’ thing is WAY down at the bottom of the Notifications Settings. It includes Emergency and Amber alerts, and the usual ON/OFF switch.
My personal phone is an iPhone 4S from AT&T. My work phone is a galaxy from sprint. A couple weeks ago the sprint was sending me alert messages warning about a possible tornado in an area that I was working. I appreciated the alert but was actually saddened that my beloved iPhone didn’t also warn me. I don’t believe it’s an actual text message but it comes through your messaging app. I believe this is why the phones need the carrier update. Otherwise they’d need to send texts to every phone number out there. This way they can hit the panic button for a local area and if you’re in that area, you get the alert.
what a boob you are.
what an ass you are.
lol, okay, fair enough.
I saw the update last night.
Very cool! A worthwhile update for those who choose to not turn it off.
I have an iPhone 4 and I got the message today… am I the only 4 that got it ?
I received the AT&T Carrier update over the air on my iPhone 4 running OS 6.1.3. So, it isn’t limited to the 4S and 5.
“Danger Will Robinson!!!”
Anyone?
Any of you notice wifi got capped at 15-16 mbps upload with this update? Previously it went full speed on my 802.11G network at home, got 24 mbps out of it. I have att, and have talked with both att and apple tech support and neither of them seem to know who wrote the responsible code that did this…… iPhone 4S 16 gig.
Calling them back tomorrow, all ready did speed tests after a full reset w/ same issue. :\
Any of you notice wifi got capped at 15-16 mbps upload with this update? Previously it went full speed on my 802.11G network at home, got 24 mbps out of it. I have att, and have talked with both att and apple tech support and neither of them seem to know who wrote the responsible code that did this…… iPhone 4S 16 gig.
Calling them back tomorrow, all ready did speed tests after a full reset w/ same issue…
Only government alert I want to see is Obama and Biden are both impeached!
If things hit the fan, then I am going to be much too busy to pay attention to what he says. When I want his opinion, I will let him know.
Is ther me a way to block this crap? Who wants spam from AT&T.
Just got an alert at 2am; scared the crap outta me. I didn’t know what it was. Woke up the house tho. After 45 minutes of research I figured it out. An amber alert. Wow. The message flashed so quick and there is no way of looking back to see what the message was. It disappeared when I reached for my phone, half asleep and in a panic to silence it, pressed whatever buttons I got my hands on. They need to make the messages ‘stick’ or able to be recalled to make it more effective.