UW-Madison tests text-messaging service

The University of Wisconsin–Madison conducted a full-scale test of WiscAlerts-Text, its emergency text-messaging service, at 1:30 p.m. today (Dec. 11).

The test was the second of the fall semester.

A message was sent to all 15,480 users in an effort to test the speed of the system and discover any glitches in message delivery in advance of a future emergency situation. The test was not announced in advance to the campus community.

The message read as follows: “WiscAlert: This is a test of the UW text alert system. If this message is received after 2:00PM, please respond to 69310 with the word ‘delay.’ This is a test.”

UW-Madison Police Lt. Michael Newton, who manages the system, says he is particularly interested in hearing from enrolled users who received the test message more than 30 minutes after it was sent, which would suggest an unusual delay.

Students, faculty and staff who have not yet enrolled in the program are encouraged to do so by logging into the My UW portal and looking for the WiscAlerts logo.

Registration is simple and takes just a few moments.