To strengthen Taiwan’s urban resilience, the NCC conducted its first mobile network disruption drill in northern Taichung, with the central region completing the exercise smoothly on August 10 from 2:30 to 3:00 PM. Since this was Taiwan’s first mobile network disruption drill, the public was completely in the dark about what the exercise actually involved, and rumors began to spread.
Taiwan’s first mobile network disruption exercise—what exactly do the actual forms of mobile network disruption look like? Is there a way to get around it? Below are relevant actual speed test screenshots provided by the moderator and netizens for your reference:
1. What I thought was a mobile network speed obstruction:
On August 10, from 2:30 to 3:00 PM, Taiwan conducted its first mobile network disruption drill in the central region. Although some spread rumors that the entire mobile network would be shut down, the NCC stated publicly that voice calls, SMS, and 110/119 emergency lines would all remain normal, with only mobile data speeds being reduced.
2. Actual mobile internet speed is restricted:
Based on what many fan pages and Threads users have shared, during the drill the mobile network status was that download speeds dropped to nearly zero (no internet), but upload speeds, voice calls, SMS, and 110/119 emergency calls all worked normally. In other words, only the download connection was affected, which explains why quite a few Threads users even posted screenshots online during the drill and vented their frustrations (the alert notification was too loud, the throttled network made the drill useless, etc.).
However, upload speeds vary among internet users—some have dozens of Mbps, while others only have 1 Mbps or even lower (0.15 Mbps), depending on the individual. Additionally, even when upload speed is available, some users have reported that LINE messages cannot be sent or are only received by the other party after the drill, which means…Although your upload may work (send), the other party might not be able to download (receive) it, so the message may not go through successfully.. However, there is no dispute that mobile uploads are subject to network speed!
3. Are there any tricks to bypass mobile network restrictions?
Although the mobile network speed throttling drill only lasts 30 minutes, heavy internet users still feel anxious about it. Besides switching to WiFi or fixed-line broadband, are there any secret tricks to bypass mobile network restrictions?
According to the sharing from Little Feng Zi fan club followers, during the exercise periodSimply turning on airplane mode and then turning it off to return to normal mode (or restarting the phone) will restore the mobile network to normal for both uploads and downloads.However, this is just a tip shared by netizens. Whether it actually works, we’ll have to wait for the northern exercise on August 13 from 2:30 to 3:00 PM, and interested people can verify it together!
Friendly reminder: this mobile network workaround is just a tip shared by netizens, for reference only. It may be pure coincidence (telecom operators restored service 10 minutes early), and the NCC may also come up with countermeasures in the next drill (strictly prohibiting carriers from early restoration), so no guarantee it’ll work!
Netizens speculate: It seems that a telecom operator restored network service 10 minutes early at 14:50 during this drill, which happened to be detected by fans testing it!
Source: KOCPC Chinese