Darn...it actually had occurred to me to test this very thing by forcing 
airplane mode and then enabling WiFi, but then spaced it and didn't manage to 
do that before the broadcast went out!

Assuming I'd actually managed to run the test, I was actually fully prepared to 
be surprised if I had NOT gotten the test broadcast while exclusively on WiFi 
Calling.  It seems bizarre to me to learn that WEAs are dependent on the same 
NAS CP messages that non-IP-based SMS over LTE is also dependent on...can this 
really be true??  This is strange because it would require that all mobile 
carriers continue to run and maintain a 2G core, since (as far as I know) SMS 
can only be encapsulated within LTE NAS by way of the SGs interface.  (Perhaps 
there is some separate interface over which WEA payloads specifically are sent 
to the MME?)

Some months ago -- but well after the 3G UMTS shutdown had taken place -- I 
found that my ability to use SMS on the AT&T network had suddenly broken in a 
weird way, and ONLY worked over WiFi.  Which was naturally a *wee* bit 
inconvenient.  After digging into it over a few days, I figured out that the 
SMS over IP (IMS) setting in my (non-5G) handset's baseband was disabled.  And 
apparently this setting is ignored when you are on VoWiFi, since IMS is 
literally the only way to deliver SMS over ePDG.  I enabled it & that fixed my 
problem with SMS over LTE.  I did some back-and-forth testing and every time I 
re-disabled that baseband setting, SMS over LTE broke again.  I took this all 
as a sign that AT&T was probably looking to retire their entire 2G/3G core, 
though admittedly I haven't tried forcing the same handset back to SMS-over-SGs 
since then in order to see if maybe this was just a temporary (yet prolonged) 
glitch on their side.

-- Nathan

-----Original Message-----
From: VoiceOps [mailto:voiceops-boun...@voiceops.org] On Behalf Of Jay R. 
Ashworth via VoiceOps
Sent: Wednesday, October 4, 2023 2:08 PM
To: jra
Cc: VoiceOps
Subject: Re: [VoiceOps] IPAWS/FEMA National Test - VoWIFI

I now have a counter report that the Cellular Control Channel necessary to get
these alerts to a cellphone *is not proxied by carrier WIFI-connect*, by design.

I'm familiar with his credentials, and I'll assume he knows what he's talking 
about,
cause *I* know what he's talking about, and he sounds like he's talking sense.  
:-)

Thanks to everyone who responded.

If you *did* get an alert, *and you know you were not in range of ANY cell 
network*,
only WIFI proxy, that wasn't supposed to be possible and I would still like to 
hear
about that.

Cheers,
-- jr 'just zis guy, you know?' a

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jay R. Ashworth via VoiceOps" <voiceops@voiceops.org>
> To: "VoiceOps" <voiceops@voiceops.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 4, 2023 3:25:04 PM
> Subject: [VoiceOps] IPAWS/FEMA National Test - VoWIFI

> I have a report from a usually reliable source that he did not receive today's
> IPAWS/CMAS/WEA test message, and he surmises this might be because his phone
> handset is forced to VoWIFI.  I have a number of other reports, mostly though
> not all, from the broadcast engineering community; nobody reported expecting
> a CMAS and not getting it, so that's not data here.
> 
> Is anyone on the list involved with the FEMA/IPAWS/CMAS link, or knows someone
> who is, and has a channel to clear this query up through?
> 
> I could be unsurprised to find that the carrier VoWIFI proxies missed out on
> proxying SMS Cell Broadcast, which I gather provides the underlying PHY for
> CMAS.
> 
> Cheers,
> -- jra
> 
> --
> Jay R. Ashworth                  Baylink                       
> j...@baylink.com
> Designer                     The Things I Think                       RFC 2100
> Ashworth & Associates       http://www.bcp38.info          2000 Land Rover DII
> St Petersburg FL USA      BCP38: Ask For It By Name!           +1 727 647 1274
> _______________________________________________
> VoiceOps mailing list
> VoiceOps@voiceops.org
> https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/voiceops

-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                  Baylink                       j...@baylink.com
Designer                     The Things I Think                       RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates       http://www.bcp38.info          2000 Land Rover DII
St Petersburg FL USA      BCP38: Ask For It By Name!           +1 727 647 1274
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