Hurricane warnings for many miles away from you, Presidential alerts, AMBER alerts for missing people in your area, and all other assorted emergency notifications can wake you up in the middle of the night ever since Verizon and Sprint signed up for the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) federal system that went live recently throughout their networks.
AT&T also participates, as well as the smaller players, but for now AT&T lists WEA only for a few areas like New York, D.C. and Portland, with more being added constantly.
Verizon says you can stop those via a WEA app on your device in the future, but for now this is notably missing as standalone, so you'll have to do it via your Messages app settings on your Samsung Galaxy S III, and this should work on any more recent smartphone too. Just go to Messaging->Settings->scroll to the Emergency Alerts option, and uncheck all types of dramatic notifications you don't want to receive.
Unfortunately Presidential alerts, which inform of terrorist threats and the like, are deemed too important to be left on the user's discretion, and greyed out, so if you want to get rid of those, you'd have to have a rooted Galaxy S III and use No Bloat to disable your stock messaging app, or just do it in Settings, then install a 3rd party text message app like Go or Handcent.
You'd probably want to be getting the Presidential alerts, though, since they are so high up in the drama rankings that you might not receive any at all, and if you do, you'd want to know that the Martians have landed, unlike that flood warning several counties away.
Create a free account and join our vibrant community
Register to enjoy the full PhoneArena experience. Here’s what you get with your PhoneArena account:
Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
Recommended Stories
Loading Comments...
COMMENT
All comments need to comply with our
Community Guidelines
Phonearena comments rules
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: