📡 Have a backup plan when cell networks go down

During large emergencies, cell networks routinely become congested or fail outright. Power outages knock out cell sites, and tens of thousands of...

During large emergencies, cell networks routinely become congested or fail outright. Power outages knock out cell sites, and tens of thousands of people calling and texting at once will overwhelm what remains. Alberta’s emergency-plan guidance recommends thinking through how household members will communicate if normal channels are unavailable. A battery or hand-crank radio tuned to a local AM/FM station gives you official information when data networks are down. Text messages often get through when voice calls do not, so default to text during an active incident. An out-of-area contact can act as a relay between family members who cannot reach each other directly. Sign up for your municipality’s emergency alert system before fire season — the Alberta Emergency Alert app or BC’s notification channels in Canada, or your county / state alert system and Wireless Emergency Alerts in the US — so important messages reach you even with a degraded data connection. If your area routinely loses cell coverage in the woods, agree on a fallback rendezvous time and place — if no one has heard from a household member by that time, they head to the meeting point regardless.

Source: Alberta — Make an Emergency Plan

Last reviewed 2026-05-02.

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