If no test alert from Cell Broadcast arrived on the smartphone this morning, there is still no need to worry. In some cases, older devices in particular cannot yet receive the notification. But there should be a fix soon.
Anyone who waited in vain for a message from the Cell Broadcast System when looking at their smartphone at 11 a.m. today was in prominent company: Comedian Jan Böhmermann is not the only one to complain on Twitter about not having received a warning. Former Economics Minister Peter Altmaier also complains: "My cell phone doesn't beep and plays dead." He can't resist a dig at the traffic light coalition. "Perhaps they still need a coalition committee," writes the CDU politician. Did those responsible actually do a bad job here, or are there technical reasons why not all smartphones rang on the nationwide warning day?
Actually, the test warning from the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) should automatically receive every smartphone that is switched on, has reception and is running the latest software. If you believe users of social networks, this worked in many cases, but not in some. Even with the optional warning apps Nina and Katwarn, the messages should not always have arrived.
The reason: there are still problems with the transmission, especially with older end devices, at least in the case of cell broadcast. However, according to the Critical Infrastructures Working Group (AG Kritis), an independent expert body for IT security, the Federal Network Agency intends to remedy the situation very soon. Mobile operators are therefore obliged to provide technical support for older devices by February 23 next year.
A Vodafone spokesman at t-online confirmed that the Cell Broadcast system had not yet been fully set up. Today's warning day is therefore not a real dress rehearsal, but just a test. Cell Broadcast will not be fully operational until the end of February.
According to the spokesman, it cannot be checked whether the warning worked on all devices with the necessary technical requirements today. The network operators could not understand whether the warning was actually played on a mobile phone.
Despite all known problems, Vodafone declared the test a "complete success" in a statement. "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," the company said. Then more older end devices should be included in the warning system than in the first test warning.
Union faction vizin Andrea Lindholz, on the other hand, sees no reason for optimism. The warning day was "not a success," she said. "Despite the new cell broadcast warning device, significant parts of the population were again not reached." She pointed out the dangers in an emergency. The "warning mix" of sirens, radio, television and cell phones must work in emergency situations. However, this was not the case.
The competent authority sees things differently: "The trial warning has shown that our technical infrastructure is robust and that the technical problems of the past have been resolved," explained BBK President Ralph Tiesler. But it is too early for "final results".
