Internet usage pattern during power outage in Spain and Portugal

Firsthand outage and connectivity experiences

• Reports from multiple Spanish and Portuguese cities describe highly unstable or nonexistent mobile data; many phones fell back to “emergency calls only.”
• Even where people had UPSes or batteries, fixed-line internet often failed once upstream network equipment lost power.
• Some individuals retained 3G and fiber for several hours, suggesting operator- or region-specific backup power differences.
• Congestion was a major factor: at a university with backup power, mobile internet worked well because many people had gone home.
• Lack of information during the first hours was widely described as the scariest part.

Alternative networks and communication tools

• Starlink users with generators or batteries reported uninterrupted connectivity; usage reportedly surged during the outage.
• Meshtastic mesh radios were heavily used near Lisbon and even outpaced FM radio for early “power is back” updates.
• Several commenters emphasize AM/FM/shortwave radios (often battery/solar/hand-crank) as critical for situational awareness.
• People mention Iridium for emergency voice, and very low-bandwidth tools (Gopher/Gemini proxies, text-only news sites) to cope with poor connectivity.

Cash, payments, and resilience

• The outage prompted some to withdraw substantial cash and stockpile water.
• Debate over a “cash-first minority”: some argue cash users face social friction and “debanking”; others consider cash advocates out of touch.
• Critics note that during blackouts ATMs, PoS terminals, and vending machines often fail, limiting cash’s usefulness.
• Counterexamples from the US show small businesses continuing on a cash-and-paper basis; Denmark and some EU guidance explicitly support keeping cash for emergencies.

Power grid stability and outage cause

• One line of discussion blames reduced inertia from renewables and a frequency event; another stresses that the actual cause is still unknown and that even “high-level engineers” are speculating.
• Participants debate how frequency drops arise, how inverters should behave, and whether multiple faults or incorrect modeling are likely.
• Claims of railway “sabotage” are also questioned; some suggest ordinary metal theft and infrastructure decay are more plausible.

Preparedness and emergency planning

• Commenters highlight official European recommendations for 72‑hour emergency kits (water, food, radio, cash).
• Several are now buying radios, better antennas, solar kits, walkie‑talkies, or expanding home water storage.
• Off‑grid households with independent power, Starlink, and stored water experienced the event as almost routine.

Internet infrastructure, HTTPS, and data collection

• One commenter blames HTTPS for making intermittent connections feel worse; others respond that ISP‑side HTTP caching is obsolete and CDNs fill that role.
• The article’s use of phone battery levels comes from the browser Battery Status API (Navigator.getBattery); some note it isn’t supported by all browsers and find this leakage surprising or concerning.

Cultural interpretations of traffic patterns

• The article’s claim that Spaniards lunch from 1–4/5pm is strongly contested as an exaggeration; typical workday lunches are said to be ~1–2 hours, often within a “jornada partida” (split schedule) that shifts work later into the evening.
• Several argue that Spain’s time zone (aligned with Central Europe despite being further west) and solar noon explain later meal times.
• There is extensive side discussion about German, Spanish, Scandinavian, and Italian work and lunch habits, with both stereotypes and corrections.