The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEA) is conducting a nationwide Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) test on cellphones Wednesday, October 4, 2023, starting at 2:20 p.m. ET. The WEA will occur during a 30-minute window.
The test will consist of a message and unique tone and vibration; technically, there is no escaping it unless your carrier does not participate in WEA. Since this is a national test, there is no opt-out and the test will occur even on cellphones that are turned on silent. However, according to News Nation, to make sure a cellphone doesn’t receive the test at all, “power off the device completely. For some older phones, this may include removing the battery entirely.”
Simultaneously, FEMA will also test its Emergency Alert System (EAS) on television and radio broadcasting systems. It will last one minute and will not affect streaming services.
SOURCES:
Macworld October 2, 2023
News Nation September 29, 2023