Emergency Communication Guide

The UK Emergency Alerts service is a national mobile cell-broadcast system, run by the Cabinet Office Resilience Directorate and launched in April 2023. It sends a loud 10-second alarm with vibration and a screen message to every 4G and 5G handset within a defined geographic area, even if your phone is on silent or in Do Not Disturb. It was used live during Storm Eowyn in January 2025 across Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland, and again for severe flooding warnings in late 2024. You do not need to sign up — every UK mobile receives them automatically. Alerts come from gov.uk, the Met Office or local Category 1 responders (police, fire, ambulance, councils) and are reserved for risk-to-life events. To prepare: keep your phone updated to the latest iOS or Android version, make sure Emergency Alerts are on in Settings (they are by default), and discuss with elderly relatives what the alarm means so they do not panic.

PMR446 (Private Mobile Radio 446 MHz) is the UK and European licence-free walkie-talkie standard, regulated by Ofcom. It uses 8 main channels in the 446 MHz UHF band at 0.5 W maximum power, giving roughly 1 to 3 km range in town and 5 to 8 km in line-of-sight conditions like across a valley. FRS (Family Radio Service) is the US equivalent — different frequencies (462/467 MHz) and up to 2 W output. FRS radios are illegal to use in the UK without an Ofcom licence because they operate on frequencies allocated to other UK services and use higher power than PMR446. eBay-imported FRS radios are a common mistake. Stick to PMR446 from Motorola, Cobra, Midland, Binatone or Retevis — they are widely sold at Argos, Currys, Halfords and Amazon UK from £30 a pair. Make sure the box specifies "PMR446 — licence-free in EU/UK" before buying.

Probably not for much longer. The traditional copper PSTN landline, which carried its own line power and worked during blackouts via an old corded phone, is being switched off by Openreach. BT Digital Voice (also branded EE Home Phone, Sky Talk and similar at other providers) is the replacement, and most UK households will have migrated to it by the 2027 PSTN switch-off. Digital Voice runs over your fibre or copper broadband — which means when the power goes out, your landline goes out too. If you have a personal alarm pendant, a Telecare device, a stairlift phone or a vulnerable relative, you need to plan ahead: 1) Request a free battery backup unit from your provider (BT, Sky, Virgin all offer one for vulnerable customers — gives 1 to 4 hours of standby). 2) Keep a charged mobile and a power bank as primary backup. 3) Register on your provider's Priority Services Register. 4) For Telecare, ask your council's adult social care team about 4G-enabled alarms.

What3Words (W3W) divides the world into 3 m x 3 m squares, each with a unique three-word address like "filled.count.soap". All UK 999 emergency services accept W3W since 2020, and Mountain Rescue, RNLI, the Coastguard and many police forces actively prefer it for remote locations where postcodes are useless. How to use it in an emergency: 1) Download the free What3Words app before you need it (iOS, Android). 2) Open the app — it works fully offline once installed because the squares are calculated locally. 3) Tap the GPS button to centre on your location and read out the three words. 4) Call 999, ask for the relevant service (police, ambulance, fire, coastguard, mountain rescue) and say "I have a What3Words location — it is ///filled.count.soap". 5) Spell it out if the operator asks; double check homophones. The Cairngorms, Snowdonia and Lake District have seen huge uptake; British Red Cross trains volunteers on W3W.

Apple Emergency SOS via Satellite has been live in the UK since November 2022 and is free for at least two years after activating an iPhone 14 or later (Apple has so far extended the free period for existing users). When you have no mobile signal and no Wi-Fi, the iPhone shows a "No Service" indicator and offers to connect via satellite. To use it: 1) Hold the phone out under open sky — trees, valleys and tall buildings block the signal. 2) Tap Emergency SOS, then "Emergency Text via Satellite". 3) The phone runs a short triage (nature of emergency, casualty count, location) and bundles it into a compressed message. 4) Follow the on-screen arrow to keep the phone aimed at the satellite — a single message can take 15 seconds in clear sky, several minutes in trees. 5) UK 999 control rooms receive the text and relay to local services. For walking, climbing or sea kayaking in the Highlands or Snowdonia where there is often no mobile coverage, also consider a Garmin inReach Mini 2 or ZOLEO as a dedicated satellite messenger.