The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a national test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) on October 4, 2023 at approximately 2:20pm ET. Back-up testing date is October 11th.
This test consists of two portions - the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and Emergency Alert System (EAS) capabilities. For more information about the national test, click here.
All major U.S. wireless providers participate in Wireless Emergency Alerts and will transmit the national test to their subscribers.
If your mobile phone is on and within range of an active cell tower from a participating wireless provider, you should receive the national test. Wireless providers will transmit the national test for 30 minutes, but your phone should only receive it once.
What does this mean for survivors?
Survivors who have safety phones that are unknown to their abuser may be at risk of their phone being discovered during this test. All phones that are on will receive an auditory and visual notification that may make it detectable by another person.
Survivor safety phones MUST be turned OFF- not silenced - for the entirety of the 30 minute period, in order to prevent the broadcast sound and notification.
When possible, we recommend that survivors have safe/hidden phones turned off when they’re not actively using them. There are a number of reasons for this, not just WEA tests.
Please refer to the newly released resource Securing Devices & Accounts, in partnership with Norton for more tips and information. This resource and other resources can be found on NNEDV's website Techsafety.org.