4 ms·

What's powering the cell towers?

• johnyzee 5y ago
  Valid question, but anecdotally, travelling often in the third world, 4G is always available, even when the whole neighborhood goes dark. Most homes use 4G routers (with a battery, basically a headless phone with a hotspot) for internet, for this reason.
  • el-salvador 5y ago
    Does the phone / mobile network go offline during electricity blackouts in the first world? Where I live the traditional non-voip landlines, and the mobile network have almost always worked when there is no electricity.
  • el-salvador 5y ago
    Yup. Earlier this year there was a major cascading blackout in Central America. It affected all of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. I chatted with friends in all of those countries and it seemed that everyone's phone/internet was working well. Those who were working remotely, continued working with their laptops and tethered mobile internet from their phones during that morning.