UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State plans to test the PSUTXT text-messaging system on Thursday, Oct. 22, to help ensure its functionality in a true emergency. This test will be sent only to those who have valid PSUTXT accounts and elected to receive alerts for University Park.
“With winter approaching, the likelihood that we’ll need to send a PSUTXT to alert the campus community to disruptions in the normal functioning of the University, we decided to run this test,” said Lisa Powers, director of Public Information.
At some point on Oct. 22, those with valid sub scri ptions to PSUTXT who elected to receive University Park alerts will receive a message that clearly indicates it is part of a test and that there is no emergency. However, not everyone who thinks they’re subscribed actually completed the sub scri ption process.
“In addition to the more than 64,000 validated subscribers, there are roughly 500 sub scri ptions in the system that remain unvalidated,” said Annemarie Mountz, assistant director of Public Information, who manages the system. “These people have not yet successfully completed the validation process, so they are not set up to receive PSUTXT messages although they may think they are. This test also will help to make those people aware that their PSUTXT accounts are not active and they need to complete their sub scri ption validations.”
Validating the cell phone number at the time of opt-in verifies that users have an active text messaging service on their accounts; ensures that only the person who owns the mobile phone is signing up for the service; and ensures that the user correctly keyed in their phone number.
Those who receive the test message on Oct. 22 do not need to take any action. Anyone who initiated a sub scri ption to PSUTXT but does not receive the test message on Oct. 22 should log into the PSUTXT system by going to http://live.psu.edu/psutxt online.
Once logged in, they should update their cell phone information, and then click on ‘Services’ to have a new validation code sent. Once subscribers receive the validation code, they need to enter it on the registration page on the Web site to complete the process and validate their accounts, according to Mountz.
Subscribers who continue to have difficulty validating their account should visit http://omnilertsupport.com/e2campus/ online.
Anyone who has not yet subscribed to PSUTXT should go to http://live.psu.edu/psutxt online. For more information, e-mail AMountz@psu.edu.