On Wednesday, October 4th at 2:20pm Eastern / 11:20am Pacific time, the FCC will send an emergency alert test message to all consumer mobile phones in the US. In the event there is any actual significant emergency, the test could be postponed (to avoid confusion) to the back-up date of October 11th. The message will read "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed." It should automatically display in either English or Spanish depending on the language settings of the phone receiving the message. The cell phone alert is one part of a full test of the country's emergency alert system by FEMA and the FCC; TV and radio broadcasts will be interrupted for a similar test at the same time.


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