UF officials are investigating why more than 4,400 students and faculty did not receive the first test of the university's emergency text-messaging system Jan. 15.
Mobile Campus, UF's text-messaging provider, reported that 35,727 out of 41,383 messages sent that day reached most cell phones in less than 30 minutes, according to a UF news release.
UF determined that some did not receive the message because they had full inboxes, gave an incorrect cell phone number or did not subscribe to a text-messaging plan.
About 1,241 messages failed for reasons still undetermined. Steve Orlando, UF spokesman, said UF is working to find out why.
"A lot of what we need is dependent on people reporting back to us, first of all, that they didn't receive the message," Orlando said.
He said one possibility for failed messages is that some people, including himself, updated their contact information after a list of everyone else's numbers was already sent to Mobile Campus.
The contact information would now be updated every day to reflect the most current emergency contact numbers, Orlando said.
Reducing the time it takes for all messages to be received by 15 minutes is a priority for UF officials, he said, even though the test "went more quickly than anticipated."
He said the time delay was due to a computer glitch in the first effort to send the text.
Orlando said UF has developed another tool for emergency situations that will address the threats of those living on campus.
The new system acts as a "reverse 911 service" because it allows the University Police Department and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office to call campus landlines and cell phones of on-campus students in emergencies, he said.
UF students were required to update their emergency contact information in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre in April, when 32 students and faculty members were killed by a student.
The release asked students, faculty and staff who did not receive the Jan. 15 message to update their local cell phone number on their contact information online.
