[Hawaii Volcano Squad]

EMERGENCY ALERT! INTERNET DOWN! Kailua Kona,Hawaii

This all happened just this last weekend & I wanted to share with you what actually happened when ONE fiber optic line was severed somewhere in the wilderness and the ensuing chaos on the Big island of Hawaii. Had it gone on for more than just a few days, could have got real real bad. Internet down is the true SHTF scenario

Everything died, and it was obvious how unprepared we are, I was, and why I joined this site. Aloha & Mahalo for reading.

 

[split]

Very interesting

 

[Boss Dog]

You said "Mahalo for reading". There's nothing to read, can't have audio at work. I'll try to watch it tomorrow at home.

 

[Hawaii Volcano Squad]

Well it's my 13 minute rant about a 3 day internet outage, the consequences, what happened.

To sum up:

Without me my rifle is useless.
Without my rifle I am useless.
Without us, the internet is useless.
WITHOUT THE INTERNET WE ARE USELESS !

Mahalo for reading.

 

[BigCheeseStick]

Welcome,

Hopefully before there's rioting and madness in the streets people realize they can go to their banks and withdraw cash just fine and dandy...

 

[Hawaii Volcano Squad]

That was just it. The ATMs do not function without the internet. There is no way for them to determine how much money is in your account without checkout through the internet.

Stuff that did not work for 3 days:

ATMs OR Banks
Credit card processing at any store
LAND line phone
Cell phones
Cloud computing which runs the software on most EVERY business.
In short nothing worked town died.

This actually happened last weekend here.

One fiber optic cable that data transversed across by almost everything here.

 

[PrepConsultant]

And seems like it wasn't even mentioned here on the mainland... How bout that!!!

 

[Hawaii Volcano Squad]

It wasn't even announced here except on local newspaper websites.

I forgot to mention RADIO was not working in that because most radio station are on CLOUD sites nowadays, there was no way for them to make an announcement.

In short, stuff just stopped working. If you listen to my 13 minute rant, I bitch & moan about the whole situation.

 

[whoppo]

Sounds like a vacation to me
when we load up the motor home for some camping we most often prefer places where there is no electricity, running water, cell service / Internet, credit card readers, etc. We're most comfortable when our only form of communication is ham radio

 

[Hawaii Volcano Squad]

Vacation ends when you pull your RV into a gas station and they can't process a credit card transaction for gas without internet access.

You will be afoot soon unless you have tons of cash or gasoline preps. Also the roads on the big island stink so you hardly ever see an RV. Thin one lane belt highway around the island next to steep sheer cliffs and rickety old sub standard suspension bridges over huge deep gorges.

 

[BigCheeseStick]

Somethings certainly amiss in this story... Banks keep better, more secure internal information than that. When power was out for a week in MI we had no problems going to banks to withdraw cash. Nearly all stores were open on generators for limited hours each day just like the banks. Even a few gas stations were open, but limited how many gallons you were allowed.

And all that was with no power at all. Internet was of NO concern in comparison.

Also, land line phones have a whole lot of NOTHING to do with internet. They even use their own power source (9 VDC if you ever need it).

 

[Seneca]

Well a bit of prior planning certainly would have eased that situation, a bit of cash on hand and being prepared to go without the internet or the ability to do business with companies that rely heavily on the internet is surely up for consideration. Being able to take care of yourself and loved ones in any situation is what prepping is about.

 

[Hawaii Volcano Squad]

It was a fiber optic cable break in the wilderness. Repair crew had to hike in with gear to fix it across lava rocks and splice the fiber optic cable break. Data from everyone except Oceanic Time Warner transversed this one fiber optic line. The cell phone towers, internet providers, everything. We HAD POWER, but no internet unless you used Time Warner's separate cable. Maybe on MAINLAND land phone lines don't go through a fiber optic switching network at key central hubs but here they do. This is the Big Island

Look at the geography of the big island. Active Volcano with lava flowing into the ocean, desert, snow covered Mauna Loa peak where the sky telescopes are located, lush tropical rainforest, Volcanic desert. Nature is in charge over here with regard to how stuff is set up.

It wasn't a power problem, it was a internet access outage/void. Two different issues.

 

[BigCheeseStick]

Actually exact same issue. No power = no internet. Every modem and router I've ever heard of uses 120 VAC. Nobody's connecting to internet without a modem. And credit card machines were all down. Hence everybody going to banks and using cash.

"The grid" going down isn't as big an obstacle as the knee jerk reaction people have to the idea would lead them to believe.

Personally, I think the world loosing it's cell phone networks forever would be a God send!

 

[Hawaii Volcano Squad]

I lived through it and I described [ranted] in detail on youtube what it was like over the weekend through Monday when finally internet connectivity was restored.

Seneca is right though I need to keep more $ cash $ around for emergencies.

 

[Hawaii Volcano Squad]

Nat Geo Oct. 27th has a Cyber attack Internet & Power down "Blackout" special on. Shockingly similar to Kona event but longer.

American Blackout | National Geographic Channel

 

[Prepadoodle]

You have admitted that you make your videos in order to profit from the prepper community. While I don't have a problem with that in general, using THIS forum to generate views is, in my opinion, kinda sleazy and beyond the forum's intent.

Since you only link to your own videos, which you admit are commercial in nature, I have not and will never watch your videos.

This seems like an interesting topic. If you would care to, you know, actually type out your point like the rest of us, i would be happy to discuss it with you. Who knows? Maybe if you prove you are interesting enough to bother with, I (and others) might actually watch some of your stuff and get you paid.

 

[BigCheeseStick]

The internet going down for a few days an "EMERGENCY!"? EVIDENCE of society "Dumbing Down" for sure!!!

Hawaii Volcano Squad, guessing your 13 and get bullied a lot?

 

[rice paddy daddy]

There are those of us here who are old enough to have lived in times without internet, PC's, cell phones, etc.
I, for one, am worried about how dependant modern society and business (especially business) is on these gadgets. China doesn't have to attack us militarily, all they have to do is continue their cyber warfare until they find the sweet spot and topple our whole house of cards.

Sure, we could survive for a limited time without electricity, but if someone crashed a major portion of the electrical grid it would bring the rest of it down as well. And 6 months or a year without full electrical generating/transmission power and we would be a third world country. Think Cuba.

 

[Will2]

Internet is a massive part of the masses communication. Internet withdrawal can also be heavy for people, its disassociating with ones normal activities, like other habits and addictions. An absence of social networking, email, skype or other services can effect those who use them.

None the less welcome. There is no doubt that the internet that is fibre optic cable plays a huge role. Luckily there are a lot of players so lots of fibre. It would take a lot to take down the internet. none the less this is why you can backup essential information, and use stuff like ham, or other technologies. Chances are there is no essential communication requirements except to get help in crisis. or keep situationally aware of geographically diverse issues. Ham can be a good hobby for this.