It started at noon on Monday, April 28. 12:33 Hours exactly, Sudden electric fall left without supplying a good part of the country. Turned into a matter of minutes that it seemed like a proper interruption One of the largest digital blackouts that Spain lived.
Not just the light has failed. So we did what we took every day: calls, data, card allowances, even traffic lights. Mobile networks – especially 4G and 5G – collapsed or disappeared directly On the screen of many mobiles. Suddenly, it was unable to invite millions of people, send the message of WhatsApp, or see the Dictok. Lots of play.
By then, Someone took an old Nokia from the drawer. He burned it. There was security. He tried to make a call. It worked. In the middle of the darkness, when almost nothing is replied, 2G mobile phones followed the functions. Without that keyboard phones Apps Without the wifi that many believed to be buried by history, they only survived. But this is not a matter of magic, there is a technical description behind it.
Why did 2G mobiles work during the dark?
The key is in technology. 2G mobiles run on the GSM network, A very simple, efficient and insignificant energy infrastructure. They do not need the internet or advanced digital services. Only the active antenna.
Unlike 4G and 5G, data connections, servers, Cloud And other intermediate layers, 2G Voice and SMS prioritizes. In areas where modern recessors have fallen, some 2G antennas continue to work, as they are less saturated because they are less saturated because they are less saturated.
Accurately because of it, Almost no one has already used mobile phones so that the network has not collapsed. For those who still retained a basic phone or for the mobile phone, this was an emergency tool, which made the difference.
In Spain, 2G still lives (and for a reason)
Key Spanish operators have already started 3G progressive off processWith the intention of publishing the spectrum that occupies this intermediate technology to strengthen 4G and 5G, it is 2G at this time, which is not touching.
It’s not like that everywhere. Study The rest of the worldOvarian More than 60 countries close their 2G networks to release spectrum and focus on 4G and 5G connectivity business. The problem is that it may leave millions of people.
In Vietnam, closing strategic strategy: Free 4G mobiles were provided to families without resources, and the number of 2G users was reduced from 18 million to 143,000. But in other countries such as India or South Africa, the Office has been delayed because millions still rely on basic mobiles.
Although Many world operators have already turned off their 2G networksThey are still active in Spain. Not nostalgia, but not necessarily. They prioritize large calls and buttons against alarm systems, lifts, industrial equipment, and less to the elderly, for phones designed for the elderly.
This maintenance has costs for operators, but also a strategic value. A real test that happened on April 28: Without the 2G network, the blackout would have been even worse. The ‘obsolete’ technology turned out to be a plan B … but we all need.