By Wu Liang-yi and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Next month’s urban resilience exercises would involve deliberately slowing down mobile networks on Aug. 10 and Aug. 23, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday, urging people to avoid handling important tasks on their mobile phones during the drills.
The first exercise would take place in central Taiwan from 2:30pm to 3pm on Aug. 10, covering, Chiayi City, Taichung, and Changhua, Chiayi, Miaoli, Nantou and Yunlin counties, the NCC said.
The second exercise would be held in northern Taiwan from 2:30pm to 3pm on Aug. 13, covering Hsinchu City, Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu and Yilan counties, it said.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Voice calls, including emergency calls to 110 and 119, text messaging services and the receipt of Public Warning Cell Broadcast Service alerts would remain unaffected, the commission said.
People are advised to use fixed-line Internet connections where possible and reduce non-essential online activity, NCC said.
The commission urged people with important online tasks to complete them before or after the drills, and recommended downloading important files and finishing online transactions or mobile payment activities in advance to avoid disruptions.
Separately, Taiwan Digital Diplomacy Association founder Chiayo Kuo (郭家佑) said that the 30-minute exercise could be treated as an opportunity for the public to participate in resilience training.
He suggested that people do seven things during the drill: avoid scheduling important work during the exercises, try to use ways other than Line to contact family members, visit the nearest designated shelter, check whether important data stored on mobile devices can be accessed offline, conduct a data backup exercise at the office, try not to rely on mobile payment services and practice refraining from forwarding information before it can be independently verified.