UW-Madison's newest emergency communication method, WiscAlerts-Text, underwent its first test-run Wednesday afternoon.
University officials sent a test text-message to nearly 13,500 users at 1:15 p.m., asking anyone who received the message after 1:45 p.m. to text the word delay"" to a specified number.
University of Wisconsin Police Lt. Michael Newton, who manages the text-message system, said Wednesday's test had a preliminary delivery success between 70 and 75 percent.
""Some messages were delayed, and some messages actually failed,"" Newton said. ""Our vendor, Inspiron Logistics, is working with the cellular companies to figure out what happened on their end.""
According to Newton, cell-phone companies that experienced problems included T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Virgin Mobile, Alltel and Verizon.
""For our first test, we found some areas that need improvement,"" he said.
After the university analyzes possible problems, Newton said the service would be tested again, especially necessary as more students and faculty sign up to receive the alerts.
""We'd like to get more of the campus signed up - 13,470 is a small portion of campus,"" Newton said, adding 80 to 100 people had already added the service following the test.
To receive texts, log into the MyUW Portal and click on the WiscAlerts logo. For more information on WiscAlerts, visit www.safeu.wisc.edu/wiscalerts.
