UPDATE | Alert did not go off for some Verizon users

The latest on the first nationwide emergency alert test on cellphones:

Electronic devices sounded off across the United States Wednesday afternoon as the Federal Emergency Management agency conducted an emergency alert test.

The tone sounded at 2:18 p.m. EDT. The subject read: “Presidential Alert” and text read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

It is the first test of the national wireless emergency system by FEMA. The message was broadcast on cell towers for 30 minutes. S

Some people got the alert multiple times. Others didn’t get it at all. Among those left off were some Valley owners with cellphone service through Verizon.

In The Vindicator newsroom, reporters and editors with service through Verizon did not get the alert. Others with smartphones with other providers such as Sprint, Virgin Mobile, T-Mobile, AT&T received the alert.

FEMA estimated about 225 million electronic devices, or about 75 percent of all mobile phones in the country, would receive the alert. It hasn’t said yet whether the test went well.

The system test is for a high-level “presidential” alert that would be used only in a nationwide emergency. The goal is to have phones get the alert at the same time.