Frequently Asked Questions

Subscriber Questions (for citizens, employees, volunteers, members, etc.)

Q: How do I sign up for Amerilert as a new subscriber?
A: Please visit your organization’s web site or call their administration office to sign up for Amerilert. You cannot sign up for Amerilert through this web site.

Q: Can I change my contact preferences?
A: Yes. You can change your account settings to add different email addresses or phone numbers.

Q: How do I control what shows up on my phone?
A: You are given an opportunity to choose the kinds of messages you wish to receive on your mobile phone through a checkbox listing of groups. You can adjust your preferences from your Group settings.

Q: How do I Opt-Out (remove myself) from receiving Amerilerts?
A: Please Click Here to log into your account to opt-out for Amerilerts for your organization.

Q: Will I receive unsolicited messages ("SPAM") on my mobile phone or email account?
A: NO. Amerilert enforces a ZERO SPAM policy which clearly prohibits unsolicited messages, and Amerilert does not sell the contact information of our subscribers to third party marketers.

Q: What exactly is Amerilert?
A: Amerilert is a patent pending mass notification system that allows designated administrators to send time-sensitive messages to the mobile phones, email, and/or pagers of their subscribers (citizens, employees, radio stations, TV stations, and others). In the event of an emergency, subscribers can get notified immediately of the situation, wherever they are geographically.

Q: Does your service work on multiple cell phone networks?
A: Yes. Amerilert is a cross-carrier service. See a list of wireless carriers supported here.

Q: Do I need to install software on my phone?
A: NO. Amerilert uses the industry standard SMS text messaging protocol to send messages to your phone. Your mobile phone plan will need to accept text messages to work properly.

Q: Will this cost me anything?
A: Maybe. Depending on your wireless carrier provider and the plan you have, you may be charged a nomimal fee (like ten cents per message) to receive SMS text messages. Many people have unlimited text messaging plans, so there would be no additional charge.

Administrator Questions

Q: What exactly is Amerilert?
A: Amerilert is a patent pending mass notification system that allows designated administrators to send time-sensitive messages to the mobile phones, email, and/or pagers of their subscribers (citizens, employees, radio stations, TV stations, and others). In the event of an emergency, subscribers can get notified immediately of the situation, wherever they are geographically.

Q: What is a mass notification system?
A: A mass notification system is defined as a platform to deliver a notification to an entire audience by all means necessary; therefore creating universal coverage to increase the odds that a particular subscriber received the notification in a timely manner.

Q: What is a notification?
A: A notification is defined as a form of communication that delivers descriptive information about news or an event, unlike a bell or siren that communicates little information.

Q: Do I need to install software and/or hardware in order to use Amerilert?
A: NO. Amerilert is a 100% web-based software system, so you do not need any additional software or hardware. All you need is a web browser with an Internet connection and you are up and running! You can look at Amerilert as a Public Safety "Utility"- always on and ready for action.

Q: Will any person receive unsolicited messages ("SPAM") on their mobile phone or email account?
A: NO. Amerilert enforces a ZERO SPAM policy which clearly prohibits unsolicited messages, and Amerilert does not sell the contact information of our subscribers to third party marketers.

Q: Does your service support multiple cell phone services?
A: Yes. Amerilert sends SMS text messages through the Omnilert gateway to the wireless carriers via standard protocol. Amerilert is a cross-carrier service. See a list of wireless carriers supported here.

Q: Does your system work on Macs or Linux?
A: Yes, Amerilert is all web-based, so any computer (PC, Mac, Linux, smart phone, BlackBerry, etc.) with a web browser can control the system.

Q: Does your system allow database uploads of recipients phone numbers?
A: No - For a number of reasons. First, we don't want to interfere with Telemarketing or SPAM laws. If someone receives an unwanted message that was sent from our system, the recipient could call us a txt spammer. This would lead to lawsuits and blacklisting from the wireless carriers. Then, no one would get text messages. Because cell phones and other mobile devices are the personal property of your recipients, we do not allow data to be imported into Amerilert. Participants must OPT-IN to Amerilert.

Second, you probably want authentic users and not users who enter false numbers like 123-456-7890. Third, it's hard to uncover accidental data until it's too late. If someone misreads a number, mistakenly types a wrong number, or changes numbers or providers, how will you know? Our past experience has shown that customer-supplied lists can be 60% inaccurate.

Fourth, our Validation step ensures the user's phone will accept text messages. We have seen instances during the Validation step where users discover their service plan or phone is not text ready. A database dump would not uncover this.

Q: Does your system integrate with LDAP or Active Directory?
A: No - We have designed Amerilert to act as a failover communications tool, so if your organization experiences a power failure, virus, or network overload due to high volume in a crisis situation, you can still send a company-wide instant alert using a BlackBerry, Treo, or any smartphone with a web browser. Many cell phone towers have power backups, so you can still get the word out quickly even if your campus network is down.

IF Amerilert was plugged into your LDAP server and required authentication before sending a message, then Amerilert would not work during your emergency situation and no messages would be sent.

Assuming that everything is okay onsite, consider 18,000 queries a minute hitting your LDAP server on top of normal traffic. True story: One customer used our service to alert their IT staff that their LDAP server was down.

To maintain authenticated users, put the User Signup Form behind your intranet. Then insert a custom SmartCode Extension into your web page which will cause the User Signup Form to have an unchangeable pre-populated username from your company's "Net ID" and not the standard empty Username field.

Alternatively, you can make it a requirement that recipients use their employee ID or work email account as their Amerilert username.

Have more questions? Contact us or call us at 800-936-3525.