Because Cell Broadcast works by targeting specific cell areas, no knowledge of mobile telephone numbers is required - unlike bulk SMS. Cell Broadcast places a very low load on the network; a broadcast to every subscriber on the network is equivalent to sending an SMS message to a single phone. Network loading problems can cause severe problems in emergency situations when network usage is likely to be very high and in these circumstances SMS messages can be delayed for hours or days or even lost altogether.
Is Cell Broadcast Industry Compliant?
CellCast's Cell Broadcast follows CAPprotocol and is defined by the official standardization bodies such as GSM MoU, (GSM 03.49) UMTS, 3GPP/3GPP2 and IS95CDMA.
Why Cell Broadcast?
Cell Broadcast delivers hundreds of thousands of messages in seconds (this cannot be done with SMS). Cell Broadcast has little or NO impact on the wireless carrier's existing voice or SMS traffic.
Governments globally will mandate and fund a third party build-out of Cell Broadcast infrastructure to allow them to alert their citizens in times of crisis. Third party management
of this process is needed since no single carrier can reach all cell
subscribers present in a given geo-targeted area.
How does Cell Broadcast Work?
CellCast Communications
licenses authorized personnel to access the Cell Broadcast Broker (CBB*), and
initiate delivery of a piece of content to a targeted area, defined on a
MicroSoft MapPoint digital map.
CellCast Communications installs a Cell Broadcast Broker (CBB) in a number of
Network Operating Centers (NOCs) in different physical locations around the
earth. Either CellCast Communications or the Wireless Carriers in each market
purchase and install a Cell Broadcast Center (CBC) each connected to a CBB.
Licensed
and authorized personnel (PSAPs, for example) access the CBB and initiate
a request to deliver content to a
targeted area defined on the digital map. The CBB authenticates the user and
verifies his/her level of authorization and then connects to each CBC in the
defined area and confirms this message is permitted on the respective Wireless
Carrier's Network. If message delivery and content is authenticated then the
CBC in each Wireless Network is instructed to deliver content to all enabled
handsets on all Carriers' Networks.
What Does it Cost the End User?
CEASa recommends that this be Zero considered as a direct payment. All Content Delivery should be paid for by the sender .
Can Cell Broadcast Messages be Answered?
No. Cell Broadcast is
one-way, "push" content. In the near future, the cell phone customer
will be able to link directly back to a web portal using SMS or a WAP-enabled
site in order to respond to the content.
Is Cell Broadcast Available Now?
On September 23rd, 2005 Airadigm Communications in Wisconsin successfully tested the Cell Broadcast capabilities. Airadigm plans to become the first wireless phone carrier in the nation to offer cellular Emergency Alert Service (EAS2) warnings to its customers and roaming subscribers over their cell phones. The new system is expected to greatly expand the reach and effectiveness of the 50 year-old emergency warning program currently provided by radio and television. Like the current program, the cellular EAS alerts are only issued by authorized government entities and will only be received by those handsets operating in the at-risk location.