Taiwan tests wartime comms with first-ever mobile network throttling drill

Taiwan is undertaking its inaugural mobile network throttling exercise this week, a novel civil defense measure designed to gauge public reaction to potential wartime communication disruptions. The drills, held in central Taiwan on Monday and scheduled for the north on Thursday, aim to simulate extreme network congestion by limiting 4G and 5G bandwidth for a half-hour period.

Approximately 17 million people, representing 73% of the island's population, are expected to be impacted by the bandwidth reduction. Authorities have clarified that essential services like voice calls, SMS messages, and emergency cell broadcasts will continue to operate. However, services dependent on mobile data, including video streaming, mobile payments, online banking, food delivery apps, and QR code verification, may experience temporary outages.

The initial phase of the exercise in central Taiwan on Monday drew immediate complaints from users. Many reported that the throttling effectively rendered their mobile internet unusable, with connections slowing to a point where sending online messages or even loading a browser homepage became impossible. The exercise has also sparked criticism regarding the government's overall preparedness for such scenarios.