During conflict, internet or phone service can disappear because authorities deliberately restrict communications, a platform is blocked, or fighting damages networks, power supplies, fuel access, or repair capacity. Those situations are not interchangeable, and no consumer device can be assumed to restore service everywhere. The distinction matters: it helps explain what may still work, why an outage is happening, and what its limits mean for civilian safety.
What counts as an internet or phone shutdown?
The #KeepItOn coalition defines a shutdown as “an intentional disruption of internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location, often to exert control over the flow of information.” That definition describes deliberate restrictions. During conflict, people also lose service when infrastructure or essential supplies fail, even if no shutdown order was issued.
| What people may experience | What it means | What may still work |
|---|---|---|
| Full shutdown | Connectivity is broadly cut across a provider, area, or country. | It depends on which networks and locations are affected; a full loss of one service does not prove every communications channel is down. |
| Throttling | Connection speeds are deliberately reduced until some services become difficult or effectively impossible to use. | Some basic functions may remain available while data-heavy or time-sensitive services fail. |
| Platform blocking | A particular app, website, or two-way messaging service is restricted. | Other internet access or communication services may remain available. |
| Infrastructure or power failure | Damage, electricity or fuel loss, cyberattacks, or inability to repair equipment interrupts service without necessarily being an ordered shutdown. | Availability varies with the damage and the affected provider, technology, and area. |
Mobile networks and fixed broadband can be affected differently, and an interruption can reach across borders. Do not infer the cause or scope of an outage from one person’s connection or from a single service going offline.
Why does phone or internet service stop during conflict?
Deliberate restrictions
Authorities may order providers to disconnect service, restrict particular networks, or interfere with access to information and communications. A connection that becomes very slow or a messaging platform that stops working may indicate a restriction, but neither observation alone establishes who caused it or why.
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Damage, power loss, and blocked repairs
Airstrikes or other fighting can damage towers, cables, exchanges, or power infrastructure. Providers may also run short of fuel, face blocked equipment imports, suffer cyberattacks, or be unable to send repair crews safely. These causes can overlap with deliberate restrictions, so each incident needs evidence-based attribution.
How monitors verify events
Access Now’s STOP methodology combines first-hand accounts, news reports, official orders, traffic measurements, and other technical evidence. It records attributed events at scales from neighborhoods to whole countries. For its tracker, an instance is a disruption lasting longer than one hour, or a series of disruptions attributed to similar circumstances, justifications, methods, and perpetrators. This is STOP’s counting method, not a universal definition used by every monitor.
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How common are conflict-related shutdowns?
In its report published 31 March 2026, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition documented 313 shutdowns in 52 countries during 2025. The coalition classified 125 shutdowns across 14 countries as conflict-related—40% of its documented global total. The report also recorded 70 shutdowns coinciding with grave human-rights abuses; “coinciding” is the report’s classification and does not establish that a shutdown caused every abuse. These are documented counts, not a census of every outage, and the report says the dataset may be updated as more information becomes available.
The same 2026 report summary documented 14 shutdowns affecting low-Earth-orbit satellite internet across seven countries in 2025, compared with four in 2024. Satellite connectivity, therefore, should not be treated as immune to disruption.
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What does losing connectivity mean for civilians?
Connectivity can be a safety and aid lifeline, not just a way to browse or post. Access Now’s 2025 conflict typology describes people losing contact with emergency services and missing family members, access to potentially life-saving information and humanitarian aid, and the ability to document human-rights violations. Interruptions can create direct harms, such as being unable to reach help, and indirect harms, such as being cut off from information needed to make decisions.
Gaza: outages amid damage and supply constraints
Access Now’s 2025 typology describes repeated outages and infrastructure targeting in Gaza, including providers facing severed cables, destroyed towers, fuel constraints, and risks to repair crews. UN OCHA’s updates also reported local mobile operators and internet providers experiencing outages amid hostilities, infrastructure damage, fuel shortages, and inability to make repairs. These accounts show why a conflict-related outage should not automatically be attributed to a single cause.
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OCHA reported in its 20–26 May 2024 update that, since 7 October 2023, Israeli authorities had approved import into Gaza of 20 satellite phones, four VHF repeaters, and 30 VHF handheld radios. Its 24 June–7 July 2024 update also mentioned 30 VHF digital radios and four solar power solutions. These figures describe a specific humanitarian access context at those dates; they do not establish current permissions or general consumer availability.
Sudan: restrictions and interruptions over time
Access Now’s 2025 typology describes nationwide shutdowns in Sudan and later network control and interruption, with people cut off from essential communication and services. The examples illustrate serious effects, but do not establish that every interruption in Sudan—or elsewhere—had the same cause.
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Can satellite phones, radios, or batteries work during a blackout?
They can be relevant in particular circumstances, but the available evidence does not identify a universally dependable backup device. Whether an alternative helps depends on the service needed, whether its infrastructure is available and permitted locally, its power supply, coverage, and the possibility of disruption.
| Option | What it can provide | Important limits |
|---|---|---|
| Satellite phone | Voice communication through a satellite system, where service and equipment are available. | Availability, permissions, coverage, and power are context-specific; the cited sources do not establish a general consumer solution for conflict zones. |
| Satellite internet | Internet access through a satellite system, where access is operating. | Access Now documented shutdowns affecting LEO satellite internet, so it is not immune to interference or restriction. |
| VHF radio | Radio communication or reception using the relevant radios and supporting equipment. | It does not restore internet or ordinary phone service; whether it can communicate depends on compatible, operating local equipment and power. |
| Battery or solar power solution | Power for compatible equipment when charged and usable. | It cannot restore a disabled network, repair damaged infrastructure, or create service where none is available. |
Do not assume a device can be lawfully imported, activated, or safely used in a particular location. Follow current local emergency and humanitarian guidance rather than relying on a generic equipment recommendation.
Quick Recap
How should people seek information during an outage?
- Follow credible local emergency and humanitarian instructions, including any guidance on where and how to receive updates.
- Distinguish a complete blackout from slow service or a blocked platform; a change in one app does not show that all communications are down.
- When evaluating a claim about an outage, look for attributed reporting and technical or official evidence. Access Now’s STOP tracker explains its verification approach and the limits of its event counts.
- Do not treat a battery, radio, VPN, or satellite device as a guaranteed workaround. What remains available depends on the local network, infrastructure, permissions, and security conditions.
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