What to Do When There's No Internet for 30 Minutes? Yunlin County Magistrate Chang Li-shan Reveals a Superpower Tech: Communication Without Network or Power

The central Taiwan session of the 2026 Urban Resilience (Air Defense) Drill will take place in August. The biggest change this year is that the NCC will simulate mobile network disruptions during the exercise. Mobile networks will be throttled, allowing only voice calls and SMS, mimicking real disaster scenarios where base stations are damaged and networks go down. During a recent drill, Yunlin County Magistrate Chang Li-shan introduced the Meshtastic resilient communication system, emphasizing that this 'communication without internet' technology is a key backup tool to ensure command continuity during disasters.

On August 10, mobile networks will degrade—video streaming and high-traffic apps will be unusable. The NCC plans to simulate bandwidth shortages caused by network congestion, disaster roaming, or tiered throttling during the drill. As a result, mobile data speeds will drop, with only voice and SMS available; 4G and 5G internet access will be affected. Defense Minister Ku Li-hsiung stated in an interview that this is an initial verification linked with Han Kuang Exercise, testing the military’s command and control backup capabilities under specific scenarios. Fixed-line networks will remain unaffected, and future plans will be developed based on this trial and expanded to other regions.

The central session will be held from 14:30 to 15:00 on August 10, covering seven counties and cities: Miaoli, Taichung, Nantou, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi City, and Chiayi County. The northern session will take place on August 13 during the same time slot, covering Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City, and Yilan County, also simulating network slowdowns.

Related report: 2026 Urban Resilience Air Defense Drill Guide – Full Schedule Across Taiwan! 14 Counties Expand 'Network Disruption Drill': 30 Minutes of Total Internet Outage (produced by Storm Media)

Network disruption isn’t just a drill—It really happened last year

This drill is not hypothetical. According to public broadcasting, Typhoon Danas in 2025 severely hit southern Taiwan. Huang Sheng-hsiung, CEO of the Taiwan Network Information Center, pointed out that the typhoon damaged over 1,200 base stations in central and southern Taiwan. Many base stations relied on elevated lines; widespread pole collapses and severed fiber optics, combined with unstable power supply, caused a complete communications blackout, turning some areas into signal islands and triggering public panic.

Telecom providers deployed 40 mobile transmission vehicles in the Yun-Chia-Nan region, restoring communications within a week. However, in Xuejia, Tainan, some areas still relied on transmission vehicles for signals a month later. Huang recommended that the government should legally mandate 'disaster resilience coefficients' for base stations and consider gradually burying elevated lines underground.

What is Meshtastic? A resilient communication technology that sends messages without internet or power

To address communication blackouts, Yunlin County Magistrate Chang Li-shan invited Meshtastic technical experts to a leadership meeting to introduce this 'connect even when offline' disaster communication network. Meshtastic uses LoRa’s low-power, long-range wireless technology to relay messages from smartphones via Bluetooth to Meshtastic devices, which then pass them along in a mesh network. This process requires no cellular network or Wi-Fi—communication remains possible even without internet or electricity, enabling people to build self-organizing networks to ensure critical message delivery.

According to the Meshtastic user manual, it is an open-source project based on LoRa technology, aiming to build long-range wireless mesh networks using low-power, low-cost devices. It’s ideal for areas lacking traditional infrastructure or for emergency communication, making it perfect for hiking, outdoor exploration, or disaster response.

What to do on drill day: Key things to know

During the drill, the alarm will sound as one long tone followed by two short tones, repeated three times. Phones will receive a national-level aerial threat alert. Pedestrians and vehicles must follow police and civil defense instructions to seek nearby shelter. Taxis, YouBike, shared vehicles, and food delivery services must pull over. MRT, HSR, and TRA trains will operate normally, but passengers must follow evacuation guidance upon arrival. Under Article 25 of the Civil Defense Act, failure to comply may result in fines of NT$30,000 to NT$150,000.

Magistrate Chang emphasized that the air defense drill is not meant to inconvenience people, but to protect everyone in critical moments. Residents can use the 'Police Service APP,' 'Fire Disaster Prevention E-Tong APP,' 'Yunlin Coin APP,' or visit the Yunlin County Police Department website or Yunlin County Disaster Prevention Information Network to check nearby air raid shelters in advance.