Belgian officials urge all to limit smartphone data usage in wake of attacks
Following explosions in Brussels that left dozens dead and nearly two hundred wounded, Belgian officials are making a plea to all in the area: Please limit smartphone data usage. No streaming music, no streaming video. Only the basics and only when necessary. And they have good reason for the ask.
Like any major disaster, the explosions in Brussel’s set off a flurry of text messages, phone calls, and emails, both too and from people in the area, friends and family checking on the well-being of their loved ones. The influx has left the local cell network heavily taxed.
As HuffPost Tech points out, Belgium’s official government Facebook page requests citizens refrain from streaming music or video so that data channels remain as open as possible:
Meanwhile, Belgium’s Prime Minister is encouraging people to use data-based messaging like Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger instead of text messages or phone calls to help keep the cellular networks open:
Both are good measures that give important messages the best chance to get through, and in fact it’s helpful to take things even further and connect to Wi-Fi if possible, which moves the communication all the way off the cellular grid.
Overloads like this are common during emergency. Similar cellular congestion happened immediately following September 11th as well as the Boston Marathon bombings. And, to a lesser and less serious degree, you’ve probably noticed similar outages around midnight on New Year’s Eve.
This sort of connectivity trouble speaks not only to a cellular infrastructure that’s lagging behind ever-increasing phone usage, but also the vast amount of information that takes to the skies simultaneously following any disaster. So in the unfortunate event you find close to-or worse, involved in-any sort of catastrophe, keep your data usage to a minimum except in the case of a total emergency. There could be lives at stake.
Source: HuffPost Tech
