The National Emergency Alert test seemed to go off without a hitch Wednesday morning in Hawaii, except that it was two minutes earlier than people were expecting when it sounded at 8:18 a.m.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency had said Tuesday that “the tests would start at ‘around’ 20 minutes after the hour,” said Adam Weintraub, spokesperson for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. “Some folks thought it had gone out two minutes early, but that was exactly on schedule.”

FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, conducted a twofold nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, which was sent to all radios and televisions; and the Wireless Emergency Alerts, that went out to consumer cellphones.

It was the third WEA test that went to cellphones, but the second to all WEA-compatible cellular devices. The test message went out in either English or Spanish, depending on the language settings of the device.

The purpose of the test is to ensure the systems continue to be an effective means of warning the public about emergencies, FEMA said.

Weintraub said there were some scattered reports of phones sounding the alert twice, and some slightly later than expected.

HI-EMA received a report of someone who turned on a phone at 8:21 a.m., but did not get the alert, which was supposed to be active for 30 minutes.

Weintraub said that might have been due to cellphone reception issues, rather than alert system issues.

“There was also one resident who reported that an old flip phone owned by a family member went off repeatedly, but overall the test seemed to go off with relatively few issues reported to HI-EMA,” Weintraub said in an email response to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.