Text Message Alerts and app alerts

Several have asked this question and I wanted to clarify the answer:

Question: "Do we still need to subscribe to Text Message Alerts if your free app is able to send out alerts?"

Answer: Text Message Alerts remain our most reliable option for alerts as they do not require internet access in order to work. Our free app InstantWeather always requires internet access to work and therefore, if your internet gets interrupted for whatever reason, you could potentially miss important notifications for tornado activity, etc.

During a violent tornado, the power often goes out which means Wi-Fi will go down for most. What happens then is, everyone tries to use cell tower data at the same time and unfortunately, it gets so bogged down that almost zero alerts come through from any option. The Ottawa tornadoes from 2018 are a perfect example of this as 10's of thousands complained that they did not receive any Tornado Warnings from any system, even though they were issued in advance. This was likely due to so many using the cell tower at the same time that most did not have the require LTE signal strength to receive automated government alerts. The only method that had a hope of getting through during those clogged times was a basic Text Message Alert (SMS) as it still works on weaker signal strengths such as Edge, 2G, and 3G.

I hope that makes sense and if you have any further questions regarding this, feel free to send us a private message or an email at help@InstantWeather.ca A huge thank you to those who continue to subscribe to our Text Message Alerts and to those who use our free app InstantWeather! Ultimately, the combination of the two is the best option as no single system is perfect. We also recommend downloading Environment Canada's mobile app WeatherCAN for alerts.

You can never be too redundant when it comes to critical alerts during tornado season. <3

- Adam