Mentor
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42 Messages
How to turn off or at least mute those horrible severe weather alerts?
There has to be a way to turn these things off!
Tonight I've run into both of the fundamental flaws in this system. Earlier tonight, I saw an alert pop up and I scrambled for the remote knowing that if I didn't exit it fast I was going to have some upset dogs and got blasted with the way out of proportion alert tone. I never even got to read the alert, because I was so focused on exiting it quickly.
Then a few minutes ago, as I was drifting off to sleep with the TV on sleep timer, I got blasted awake by a Flash Flood alert that kept getting louder and louder until I finally founf the remote and made it stop.
Somebody please tell me how to turn these off. They are utterly pointless and far more trouble than they are worth.
Thanks
Official Solution
texasguy37
Expert
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14.5K Messages
11 years ago
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Official Solution
skeeterintexas
ACE - Expert
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27.7K Messages
10 years ago
The EAS is a national public warning system that requires broadcasters, cable television systems, wireless cable systems, satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) providers, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers to provide the communications capability to the President to address the American public during a national emergency. The system also may be used by state and local authorities to deliver important emergency information, such as AMBER alerts and weather information targeted to specific areas.
ATT is REQUIRED to send the alert per the statement above.
Your option is to turn down the volume using the "volume" button on your remote or the "power" button for full control.
Thank you and drive through.
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Official Solution
oufanindallas
ACE - Master
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6.9K Messages
10 years ago
While Presidential alerts are required, most states if not all, require weather and amber alerts to be broadcast. Unlike mobile phones you cannot opt out from television or radio EAS alerts. Each state also requires a monthly test to be performed during the first week of the month.
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robb0995
Mentor
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42 Messages
11 years ago
My local radio stations and local TV stations are not breaking in with these alerts, just Uverse. And sharing more flash flooding warnings all night when I know it's raining hard is not sharing particularly important instructions. Uverse really needs a way to opt out of this. It's incredibly annoying.
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Anonymous
New Member
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25.7K Messages
11 years ago
They are broadcast for a reason......To save life and property. They may be annoying to you but quite beneficial to others. What if there was a tornado in your area and you didn't get the warning because you "opted out" and your house was destroyed, and/or worse, you experienced loss of life to one of your family members? Then what? You would wish that you had received the warning, right?
I don't know who decides when or what to display on the warnings but if I had to guess it would be someone like the National Weather Service, or your City/Local Government. I'm sure it's not AT&T that makes the decision when and what to warn you about.
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baseballisback
ACE - Professor
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7.7K Messages
11 years ago
If there WAS a tornado in the area, I would hope local news would interrupt a few minutes (or longer) before the tornado would be a real threat. In my area, the local news outs a graphic in the corner of the screen for a mild situation. If it's a bit more serious, they'll run a crawl across the screen. If it's a tornado watch, then they break in until there's no more tornado threat in the area.
There is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED FOR THE SIREN TO BE SO %&--#;(#%+ LOUD!!!!!!! (Screaming to be heard over the blare.)
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Anonymous
New Member
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25.7K Messages
11 years ago
The local alert from a station would be expected IF you were watching a loacl station. What if you were watching HBO as an example, or any other channel such as Discovery? Therefore the reason for the AT&T alert.
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texasguy37
Expert
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14.5K Messages
11 years ago
As BeeBeeSA mention, what you describe only works if you are watching a local station. Not everyone only watches local stations. The EAS alerts appear regardless of the station being watched. They are even received if you are watching a recorded program or an On Demand Program.
By the way, if you simply press OK on your remote, when the alert appears, the sound will be muted.
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texasguy37
Expert
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14.5K Messages
11 years ago
By the way, the EAS alerts are government mandated:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System#Station_requirements
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robb0995
Mentor
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42 Messages
11 years ago
I came here asking for one thing: how do I personally turn them off? The EAS mandates only require that Presidential notifications go to everybody. All other alert types can be opted out of. So, just like I can on my AT&T cell phone, I'd like to opt out, please.
However, if it is the will of this forum that I not be allowed to opt out and that I darn well learn why I should to love them and how they save my life and property, then I'll go into more detailed criticism of the implementation.
1) it's ridiculously loud. There's absolutely no justification for it. My attention can be channeled with far less volume or at least far less duration. They should "tone" it down.
2) it's ridiculously intrusive. As posters have noted, local broadcasters with the same responsibility manage this with a bug or crawl, instead of modal messages that hijack the tv until responded to.
3) it's overly sensitive. I don't need to drop everything every time a low-level alert is issued or extended. Flash flood alerts aren't particularly valuable sitting at home watching TV, and they are even less valuable every 5-10 minutes as the watch/warning is slightly modified. Same for thunderstorms (yeah, the sky gave me its own alert tone--I'm all caught up).
4) it's still not 100% effective. For all the hand-wringing above over "What if you're not watching local TV when the life-saving missive from heaven sounds its clarion call???", I have to ask What if you're watching a DVD or (:snicker:) VHS? Or shocking as it may be, what if you're reading a book with the TV off? Shouldn't I be screamed at from the rooftops on those situations too, or do people who read simply deserve to die? Lol. If they really wanted to get the word out, they'd sound an alert from the box whether the TV was on or not. I'd support that... On an opt-in basis.
If these were done better, then I'd probably stay opted in, so by all means, fix the problems, but start with allowing opt-outs as allowed by the law.
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