➡ If the internet goes down, you can prepare by using ham radios, shortwave radios, satellite phones, and mesh networking apps like Bridgify. These tools allow for long-range communication, receiving distant messages, and creating a mini internet for short-range messaging. However, large-scale internet blackouts could take weeks or months to recover from due to potential damage to infrastructure. It’s important to prepare for such scenarios to ensure communication continuity.

Imagine World War 3 unleashing hell on North America, not just with bombs and missiles, but by crippling the internet and mobile networks that hold our society together. The fallout would be catastrophic, leaving millions isolated. Now let’s examine the targeted ways that our enemies could dismantle the internet, starting with the technical vulnerabilities that make this nightmare possible. Our internet and mobile networks are the fragile threads that bind 470 million people across North America. Without these networks, modern life would grind to a halt, and merely surviving would become a desperate struggle. To make this understandable, let’s break it down step by step.

Think of the internet as a vast digital city, where data travels like cars on highways, delivering information to your devices. Attackers in World War 3 wouldn’t need to destroy the whole city. They’d likely just target key choke points to inflict maximum chaos. Internet exchange points, also known as IXPs, these are like the major intersections or crossroads in our digital city, where different networks meet to swap data. These hubs handle billions of data packets every second, and there are 126 of them in North America. An attacker may selectively attack these physically, or launch a cyber attack to overload them, blocking traffic and disconnecting entire regions of the internet.

In 2008, there was an outage in Pakistan, where a single IXP failure cut off 70% of the country’s internet. In North America, this could leave millions of people without access, sparking widespread panic. Next are root DNS servers. DNS stands for Domain Name System. Think of this as the city’s phone book or address directory. There are only 13 main clusters of these servers worldwide, translating easy-to-remember names like Netflix.com into the numerical IP addresses that computers use to find websites. If attackers flood them with fake requests in a DDOS, also known as a Distributed Denial of Service attack, like the 2020 assault on Amazon’s DNS, it’s like setting the phone book on fire.

Suddenly, no one can find websites, apps, or even mobile services that rely on DNS. This would effectively turn your phone or computer into a useless brick. You could make the argument that we all need a digital detox, but preferably on our own terms. Then there’s something called Border Gateway Protocol, or BGP. Think of this as the city’s GPS system, the smart navigator that directs data along the fastest routes between the networks. Hijacking BGP means attackers take control of the directions, as China accidentally, or intentionally perhaps, did in 2010, rerouting 15% of global traffic through their servers.

For the average person, this means no more location services on your phone, no maps, no ride-sharing, no real-time updates. Finally, there’s core routers. These are the traffic lights and stop signs of the digital city. Devices owned by big providers like AT&T in the U.S. or Bell Canada that direct the flow at high speeds. Infecting them with malware like the 2018 global attacks on Cisco routers or physically sabotaging them could cause massive pileups of data stopping everything in its tracks. Your home Wi-Fi, office connections, and mobile hotspots would all fail. Now factor in mobile networks like 4G and 5G, which are deeply intertwined with the internet.

They use the same cables, routers, and BGP to route data from the cell towers to your phone. Attackers could sabotage cell towers directly, as seen in 2020 vandalism fueled by 5G fears, launch malware on the mobile core networks that manage user data, jam the radio spectrum with electronic warfare tools to block wireless signals, or use EMPs to fry the electronics in the towers. The result? No calls, no text, no mobile internet. Where the loss of connectivity leads to fear, looting, and a loss of life. The vulnerability is even more frightening when you consider the physical backbone of our internet and mobile networks.

We’re talking about undersea cables, data centers, satellites, and cell towers. These are sitting ducks in World War III. Undersea cables currently snaking across oceans and carrying 95% of North America’s data traffic could be sliced by submarines or drones, cutting off international connections and leaving us isolated from the world. Data centers, the massive warehouses full of servers powering companies like Google, could be bombed or hacked, erasing vital information in an instant. Satellites like Starlink, beaming internet from space, could be shot down with anti-satellite missiles. And those cell towers, the tall structures dotting our landscapes for 4G and 5G, could be toppled or jammed, silencing mobile phones across vast areas.

But here’s a sliver of hope against the horror. Some data centers are actually hardened against these scenarios. Amazon Web Services’ Government Cloud is specifically designed for US government use and operates in ultra-secure facilities with access restricted to US citizens only and is surrounded by perimeter fencing, armed guards, biometric scanners, and advanced protections like automatic fire suppression and flood detection. In Canada, for example, Cologics data centers in Montreal and Vancouver feature redundant power supplies and cooling systems to keep them running during crises. Even more fortified are underground data centers hidden in converted military bunkers from the Cold War era.

Facilities like InfoBunker in Iowa buried 65 feet underground or Stratuspace in Kentucky, which is equipped with 24 megawatts of backup power are protected by thick rock walls, independent water supplies, and Faraday cages that are designed to block electromagnetic interference. While data centers on the surface and cell towers would fry under electromagnetic pulse, these underground fortresses could actually keep humming preserving critical government data. Yet the warning is stark. Even these strongholds that rely on external cables and routers could be severed and a direct nuclear hit could breach them.

Governments would activate their continuity plans to cling to control, but the public could be left in the dark, literally and figuratively. Under Presidential Policy Directive 40, essential functions like defense, healthcare, and emergency services must continue no matter what. The Department of Homeland Security and CISA would lock down AWS Government Cloud and underground bunkers like InfoBunker to keep operations alive. Cipronet, or Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, a classified system in secure facilities, would handle military communications via dedicated fiber and satellites, bypassing public networks. FirstNet, a specialized 4G, 5G network for first responders, operates on a reserve spectrum to maintain emergency mobile comms, but its towers are still susceptible to EMP and sabotage.

CISA’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Centre would coordinate recovery, prioritizing critical infrastructure, but civilian access would be throttled, which would lead to widespread outage. In Canada, the Federal Emergency Response Plan includes secure satellite links for intelligence and healthcare, but mobile networks from providers like Rogers, for example, would be commandeered for priority use. CSC’s cybersecurity would monitor threats, but limited resources might mean delaying civilian restoration, as seen in past outages where Canadians face prolonged blackouts. Now, these plans might sound reassuring. The problem is, they’re designed for governments to survive, not the average citizen.

This dependence on the internet is a ticking time bomb. Here’s a comprehensive look at the disruptions that would ensue in the case of an internet shutdown across North America. Video calls on Zoom, messaging apps like WhatsApp or Teams, and social platforms could vanish entirely. This would drastically limit people’s ability to communicate during a crisis. Mobile connectivity. 4G and 5G signals for calls, texts and data could drop dead. This would block apps like X or Telegram, rendering your phone to being nothing more than a fancy paperweight. Utilities. Smart grids controlling electricity, water or gas could malfunction.

This could trigger blackouts, prevent people from accessing clean drinking water or heating their homes. This could force a massive exodus from the cities. Streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, TikTok or Hulu would go completely dark, stripping away distractions and heightening stress. People may turn to unrest without these digital pacifiers at the ready. ATMs, online banking, PayPal, Venmo, Interact and stock trading apps could freeze entirely, preventing millions of people from accessing their money or engaging in any form of commerce. Electronic patient records and hospital systems could erase, delaying life-saving surgeries where patients could die waiting for help that never comes.

Emergency services. 911 lines could easily be overwhelmed and collapsed, leaving police, fire and ambulances uncoordinated. Lives will be lost because nobody is able to call for rescue. Point of sale machines and e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart could stop cold. This could quickly lead to looting, emptying shelves and starving consumers in major urban centers. Supply chains. Logistics tracking for food, medicine and fuel from companies like Costco or DHL could halt, causing shortages across North America. GPS navigation. Ride-sharing apps like Uber and public transit trackers could fail, stranding millions in traffic jams that could turn violent.

Home cameras, smart locks and city surveillance could go completely blind, inviting burglaries and crime waves in places where law enforcement is already stretched thin. Agriculture. Precision farming sensors and market apps could fail, ruining crops for farmers and leading to food crisis and starvation risks. Factory automation could grind to a halt without cloud control, crippling industries and causing mass unemployment. All of these will be impacted when the internet goes down. North Americans would be forced into a desperate scramble for survival, reverting to primitive methods while rural areas descended into isolation.

Cash would become king as digital payments failed. Landlines, if they even exist, would be lifelines and paper maps would replace GPS. But the reality is grim. Without preparation, many would suffer. So what can you do to prepare yourself for an internet blackout? Ham radios. These cost between $50 to $100. These are portable devices that allow long-range voice communication without the internet or mobile towers. They’re very popular among hobbyists and emergency responders for broadcasting alerts. You might also want to consider a shortwave radio to receive messages from far away. Satellite phones are another option.

These can cost anywhere between $500 to $2,000. They will allow you to connect directly to orbiting satellites for calls and texts in remote areas, bypassing ground-based systems. You might also want to consider mesh networking. Mesh network apps like Bridgify are free software that turns any phone into Bluetooth walkie-talkies for short-range messaging in groups or communities. Now this allows you to create your own mini internet of sorts where all messages are relayed through all users’ phones on the network. While a total irreversible collapse is unlikely, a relentless assault on IXPs, DNS servers, cables, and cell towers could create vast blackouts that feel like the end of the world.

Agencies like the USA’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would scramble to respond, but EMP damage or persistent cyber attacks could stretch recovery into weeks or months, if ever. The alarm is clear. Our wired world is a house of cards, and it’s time to fortify it before the storm hits. We’re interested in hearing your thoughts in the comment section below. How would you personally deal with a total internet shutdown? Would it be a mixed blessing, or would it be absolute horror? Let us know, and don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe if you found this video insightful.

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