Will Wi-Fi Work During Central-Northern 'Internet Cut'? Actual Impacts of Network Throttling Drill and 3 Key Questions: Should Southern Stock Trading Be Exempt?

Taiwan has been promoting the 'Urban Resilience Drill' since 2025. In 2026, for the first time, it will include a 'mobile network throttling' exercise. Central and northern regions will undergo phased 30-minute reductions in mobile network speeds, during which public communications will be limited to voice calls and SMS. The announcement has triggered public skepticism and reports of telecom operators' customer service lines being overwhelmed, though operators can only respond that they are 'following instructions from regulatory authorities.'

Media personality Huang Yang-ming raised these concerns early on February 21 via Facebook, listing three critical questions.

What is the Urban Resilience Drill? When will networks in central and northern Taiwan be affected?

Last year's inaugural Urban Resilience Drill integrated the former 'Wan-an Drill' (air defense) and 'Min-an Drill' (disaster relief) to enhance overall response capabilities to war, major disasters, and compound crises—what the government calls 'whole-of-society defense resilience.' This year marks the first inclusion of mobile communication network throttling drills. National security officials stated the initial phase targets regions with the highest mobile traffic nationwide.

The 2026 Urban Resilience Air Defense Drill will be conducted in five phases, with two phases involving 30-minute mobile network throttling exercises:

Central Region: August 10, 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM Affected areas: Miaoli, Taichung, Nantou, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi

Northern Region: August 13, 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM Affected areas: Yilan, Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu

What are the actual impacts in central and northern regions? Not a full 'internet blackout'—indoor Wi-Fi unaffected

Regarding actual impacts, national security officials clarified that this drill is not a complete 'internet shutdown' but a reduction in mobile network speed. High-bandwidth activities such as video streaming, uploading, and video calls will be most affected, while SMS, text messaging, regular voice calls, and disaster alerts will remain functional.

The throttling applies only to 4G and 5G public mobile networks. Indoor Wi-Fi and private networks used by high-tech firms are unaffected. Concerns have also been raised about whether contactless payment systems will work. Officials stated that if backend transactions rely on fixed-line networks, they should generally remain unaffected, though real-time online financial transactions should be avoided.

Huang Yang-ming raised three major concerns on Facebook:

1. Why cut civilian mobile networks while fixed-line networks remain operational? 2. What is the legal basis for the government to cut networks? What exactly is being tested? 3. Why are central and northern regions subject to throttling, while southern regions are exempt due to drill timing in the morning, allegedly to avoid disrupting stock traders?

He further questioned whether stock trading should take priority during wartime, suggesting this proves network disruption was not originally planned into the drills.

Why is the south excluded from the throttling drill? Fear of impacting stock trading?

In response to public questions about why only central and northern regions are included, CNA reported that national security officials explained southern, eastern, and outlying islands have previously experienced actual communication disruptions—such as power outages in Tainan due to typhoons, low-orbit satellite use during Hualien earthquakes, and microwave reliance in Matsu after submarine cable cuts. Therefore, the current focus is on densely populated central and northern areas to strengthen government and public response capabilities.

The National Communications Commission (NCC) stated that southern air defense drills occur in the morning, overlapping with Taiwan Stock Exchange trading hours. To avoid market disruption, mobile network throttling will not be included in southern drills this time.

More exclusive insights from Storm Media: • 14 counties and cities in northern and central Taiwan will experience 'collective mobile disconnection' on these two days! Why is the south exempt? NCC reveals reason: 'related to stock investors'