U.S. Cellular Invites Western North Carolina Residents to Sign Up for Free Wireless Amber Alerts

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by Melissa McIntyre
on Tuesday, January 04, 2011

As the 15^th anniversary of National AMBER Alert Awareness Day approaches on January 13, U.S. Cellular invites customers to sign up to receive free AMBER alerts via text message. Since its inception, the AMBER Alert program has led to the safe recovery of more than 500 children, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Statistics show that the first three hours following abduction are the most critical to the search. In 2005, the Wireless AMBER Alerts Initiative enabled the public to receive alerts via text message on their wireless devices. Wireless AMBER Alerts have the potential to reach 96 percent of the public with more than 292 million cell phone subscribers in the United States.*

"Once customers sign up for this free service, AMBER Alerts are sent to their wireless devices, so they can be made aware of a missing child in their area immediately," said Jack Brundige, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in western North Carolina. "Signing up is quick, simple and may help in bringing home a lost or abducted child."

www.uscellular.com, www.wirelessamberalerts.org, or text the word "Amber" followed by a space and your 5-digit zip code to short code 26237. Customers may also sign up for wireless AMBER Alerts by visiting any U.S. Cellular retail store.

How wireless AMBER Alerts work:

1. Sign up to receive AMBER Alerts in your area by selecting the location(s) you frequent most, such as where you live and work.
2. Law enforcement issues an AMBER Alert and provides the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) with the information to include in the alert.
3. NCMEC formats the AMBER Alert information, which is then relayed to U.S. Cellular.
4. This information is sent as a free text message.
5. U.S. Cellular customers will only receive AMBER Alerts by enrolling in the program.
6. If you have information on a missing child, call the NCMEC toll-free Hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) 24-hours a day.

*Source CTIA-The Wireless Association

About U.S. Cellular

U.S. Cellular is committed to fixing wireless one project at a time and recently unveiled The Belief Project, an array of industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier provides the best cell phone service in the country according to survey results released by Consumer Reports, which found that wireless customers are more satisfied with U.S. Cellular than every other major wireless company. U.S. Cellular was also named one of Forbes Magazine's 2010 "Most Trustworthy Companies." The Belief Project complements U.S. Cellular's growing catalog of cutting-edge phones that are all backed by its high-speed nationwide network. To learn more about U.S. Cellular, visit one of its retail stores or uscellular.com. You can also check out U.S. Cellular on Facebook.

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