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None of the people I know across various providers (iOS and Android alike) got the alert in Tokyo. Almost everyone I know in Gunma (around 75 miles from here) g

None of the people I know across various providers (iOS and Android alike) got the alert in Tokyo. Almost everyone I know in Gunma (around 75 miles from here) got the alert, though... and Gunma is a good 650ish miles away from southern Hokkaido. It's a mystery to us why some people got the alert and others didn't.

solicode 9y ago
I don't know either, but I got the alert through Yahoo's 防災速報 app. I'm on an MVNO, so I don't think I would have gotten the alert otherwise.
- kalleboo 9y ago
  If you're on iOS and in the affected area you should have received the alert. If you're on Android you might need a device sold in the Japan market to get them (seems there are mixed reports on this, would love to hear from someone in the industry - does this stuff use standard GSM features and are these enabled on Android by default? could weird manufacturer skins disable them?). You also need to be in the affected area to receive the message, although third party apps often let you customize the range or priority of messages to receive. On my US-sold iPhone running on an MVNO I reliably receive earthquake/flood alerts. But I didn't receive the alert this morning since I live in the other end of the country where it was not broadcast.
  - solicode 9y ago
    Interesting, I assumed it was the carrier, but it might be the model. I have a Galaxy S7 which I got in Hong Kong. With this variant, I can't find the emergency alert settings anywhere. That might explain it.
- sdrothrock 9y ago
  Devices on MVNOs can still receive the alerts as long as they're set to receive. You'll have to dig around in the settings for it, but it should be on by default. If you got it through Yahoo though, probably no need to worry since you'd just get duplicates...
baq 9y ago
if the missile didn't break up, it could've made it there.
- sdrothrock 9y ago
  How? The trajectory put it nowhere near Tokyo.
kalleboo 9y ago
The news has been showing maps of the areas the alert was sent out in all day, NHK has a list of prefectures in this article http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20170829/k10011116461000.html http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20170829/k10011116461000.htm...
- sdrothrock 9y ago
  That makes more sense! Thanks. For the people who can't read it: Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Niigata, Nagano That makes the Tohoku Region (northern Japan), northern Kanto (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma), and northern Chubu (Nagano, Niigata).
kqr 9y ago
The SMS cell broadcast feature is kind of flaky. Nothing wrong with the technology, but it needs to be enabled in so many places to get through it rarely happens. Also consider that Japan never really did the whole GSM thing, so it's easy to imagine they haven't bothered with all legacy features still present in UMTS. Not to mention that Japan uses different W-CDMA channels than many other places in the world, so if the people you know have foreign phones they may get limited CB coverage.
- sdrothrock 9y ago
  That's not it since the ETWS works fine normally, plus there's a strong correlation of people being north of Tokyo and receiving the alerts. kalleboo found an article listing the prefectures that received the alert and Tokyo is indeed excluded from it.

solicode 9y ago

I don't know either, but I got the alert through Yahoo's 防災速報 app. I'm on an MVNO, so I don't think I would have gotten the alert otherwise.

kalleboo 9y ago
If you're on iOS and in the affected area you should have received the alert. If you're on Android you might need a device sold in the Japan market to get them (seems there are mixed reports on this, would love to hear from someone in the industry - does this stuff use standard GSM features and are these enabled on Android by default? could weird manufacturer skins disable them?). You also need to be in the affected area to receive the message, although third party apps often let you customize the range or priority of messages to receive. On my US-sold iPhone running on an MVNO I reliably receive earthquake/flood alerts. But I didn't receive the alert this morning since I live in the other end of the country where it was not broadcast.
- solicode 9y ago
  Interesting, I assumed it was the carrier, but it might be the model. I have a Galaxy S7 which I got in Hong Kong. With this variant, I can't find the emergency alert settings anywhere. That might explain it.
sdrothrock 9y ago
Devices on MVNOs can still receive the alerts as long as they're set to receive. You'll have to dig around in the settings for it, but it should be on by default. If you got it through Yahoo though, probably no need to worry since you'd just get duplicates...

baq 9y ago

if the missile didn't break up, it could've made it there.

sdrothrock 9y ago
How? The trajectory put it nowhere near Tokyo.

kalleboo 9y ago

The news has been showing maps of the areas the alert was sent out in all day, NHK has a list of prefectures in this article http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20170829/k10011116461000.html http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20170829/k10011116461000.htm...

sdrothrock 9y ago
That makes more sense! Thanks. For the people who can't read it: Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Niigata, Nagano That makes the Tohoku Region (northern Japan), northern Kanto (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma), and northern Chubu (Nagano, Niigata).

kqr 9y ago

The SMS cell broadcast feature is kind of flaky. Nothing wrong with the technology, but it needs to be enabled in so many places to get through it rarely happens. Also consider that Japan never really did the whole GSM thing, so it's easy to imagine they haven't bothered with all legacy features still present in UMTS. Not to mention that Japan uses different W-CDMA channels than many other places in the world, so if the people you know have foreign phones they may get limited CB coverage.

sdrothrock 9y ago
That's not it since the ETWS works fine normally, plus there's a strong correlation of people being north of Tokyo and receiving the alerts. kalleboo found an article listing the prefectures that received the alert and Tokyo is indeed excluded from it.