The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) wanted to trigger a test alarm throughout Germany at 11 a.m. But for some cell phone users, the devices remained silent. The all-clear doesn’t seem to get through either. While the BBK still speaks of a “success”, criticism comes from Bavaria.
As the BBK announced before the campaign, “a test warning should be sent at 11 a.m. via the federal modular warning system (MoWaS)”. But not all cell phone users heard a warning tone and a notification was displayed. The warning apps NINA and Katwarn also sometimes did not show users any messages or only displayed them more than 20 minutes after the deadline. !function(){var t=window.addEventListener?”addEventListener”:”attachEvent”;(0,window[t])(“attachEvent”==t?”onmessage”:”message”,function(t){if (“string”==typeof t.data
From the point of view of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, the new cell broadcast technology was “successfully tested”, it was initially said by the BKK in response to a Focus online request. However, as the reports accumulated over the course of the day that many cell phone users had not received any warning at all, the civil protection officers issued a message via “Mainz
“We are evaluating the nationwide warning day successively, based on the feedback from the partners involved in the warning day (states and municipalities, mobile network operators, etc.) and as part of the survey on the warning day and an accompanying scientific study, and we will inform the public as soon as we have reliable information.” , it said.
On Friday afternoon, the BKK then rowed back. The word “none” was forgotten in the press release. The statement is correct as follows: “Regarding your questions about possible problems with Apple devices or the Telekom network, we currently have no information that would generally confirm this.” The statement that “Mainz
Bavaria’s Minister of the Interior, Joachim Herrmann (CSU), has admitted problems with sending warning SMS and push messages via official warning apps on today’s nationwide warning day on “Bayerischer Rundfunk”.
Cell broadcast on his cell phone worked for him personally at 11 a.m. sharp – “with the shrill alarm and also visually with the message on the cell phone,” Herrmann told broadcaster BR24. It also worked for a number of colleagues in his area in Erlangen.
“In fact, I’ve already received a whole series of messages from different parts of Bavaria where cell phones didn’t work. This must be investigated, it must be carefully processed nationwide,” Herrmann demanded on BR24’s topic of the day.
“Overall it has definitely worked better than it did two years ago, but obviously it still has too many shortcomings. That must not be and that must now be dealt with immediately, ”said Herrmann. In any case, the large telecommunications operators such as Vodafone and Telekom had declared in advance that they had technically prepared everything for shipping, Herrmann told BR.
Shipping “mostly worked” via the Nina and KatWarn apps, Herrmann said. But he could “not rule out that there were things that didn’t work properly”. He was told of “delays” and that “in some cases the warnings only arrived after ten or twenty minutes via the apps”. If there is a very urgent danger, “this is also not acceptable in terms of timing,” criticized the CSU politician.
According to initial information, many Telekom customers in particular should not have received the warnings. A possible explanation is that the cell broadcast system will not be fully functional until February 2023, and another warning day is already planned for September. Deactivated test warnings in the phone’s system settings could also be a reason for the cell phones to remain silent. Many older models such as the iPhone 6 or devices with Android 10 cannot use cell broadcast either.
The BBK wanted to send a second all-clear at 11.45 a.m. – but this does not seem to get through either. According to initial reports, devices that have successfully received the first warning are also affected.
From the point of view of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, the new cell broadcast technology has been “successfully tested”. BBK President Ralph Tiesler can be quoted as saying: “According to preliminary findings, the nationwide warning day 2022 was a success! The interaction of the individual systems worked and people became aware of the important issue of warning. It is still too early for conclusive results. We will now evaluate the feedback and thus be able to further optimize the system.” It remains unclear why the warnings did not reach all mobile phone users – or why the first warning was successful but not the all-clear.
From Vodafone’s point of view, the first test of the new Cell Broadcast disaster warning system was “a complete success”. The company said: “We will now evaluate all the findings from the warning day and use them to further optimize the new warning system until regular operation starts in 2023. Then more older end devices should be included in the warning system than today with the first test warning.”
Telekom asks for your understanding that at such an early stage no precise conclusions can be drawn as to the success or failure of the warning day. In addition, it is difficult to draw a conclusion, they say. “Sending cell broadcast messages is comparable to sending radio signals – you don’t get any immediate feedback on how many devices have received the message,” said Telekom spokesman Philipp Kornstädt. The test will now be evaluated, it is said. “The scheduled start of cell broadcast as a warning device in Germany is planned for February 2023.”
o2 Telefónica also made cautious statements about the warning day. “Since the transmission is an anonymous process, we cannot ultimately make any statement on the network side as to how many mobile phones received the test warning message. However, feedback received so far from customers and employees of the company indicates that the test alert was generally received by mobile phones that are cell broadcast-capable and were actively registered on the network.
The message is to be distributed on various channels – on radio and television, via warning apps such as Nina or Katwarn and on city information boards. Sirens are also used. For the first time, a warning is also given about the cell broadcast process. An automatic notification goes to every mobile phone that is switched on at this time, has reception and is running the latest software.
Warnings are also given via loudspeaker cars, the information systems of Deutsche Bahn. It’s just a test. The all-clear should follow at 11:45 a.m.
