TALLAHASSEE, FLA. ? Florida’s Amber Alert system is being expanded to cell phone customers, the first program of its kind in the nation, Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday in Tallahassee.

The free program will allow subscribers to receive text messages on their phones when an alert is issued about a missing child.

“It’s another step forward in our effort to bring children home where they belong,” Bush said.

Since many of the nation’s 182 million wireless users do not use text messaging, it is unclear how effective the program will be.

Lori Tomblin, a Tallahassee homemaker awaiting the arrival of her first grandchild, said she wasn’t sure if she had text messaging.

“I wouldn’t even know how to do it,” she said.

Under the current Amber Alert system, newspapers and television and radio stations are told when a child is missing and believed to be in danger. Electronic highway signs also flash information, including the child’s description and details about the suspect’s car to drivers on major roads.