Emergency communication depends on what has failed. Send a text when calls jam, use another network when one goes down, use a network radio that reaches farther when the nearest site goes dark, and use a direct radio or satellite messenger when no network is left. A listen-only radio gives you news at any stage where a station is still on the air. The FCC says cell site batteries can last four to eight hours, and on October 1, 2024, five days after Hurricane Helene, it listed only 3 of the 707 cell sites out in North Carolina as damaged.
Key Takeaways
- Emergency communication can fail in four ways: calls jam, one network goes down, towers run out of power, or no network is left. Each has its own answer.
- In recent FCC storm reports, cell sites mostly go out for lack of power or a lost link back to the network: on October 1, 2024, the FCC listed 3 of North Carolina's 707 sites out as damaged. Those are sites out, not people without service.
- Send a text first when calls jam, and agree on a time to switch to a radio while phones still work.
- A listen-only radio hears the county, not your family, so it does not replace a way to talk back.
- RIGR, a dual-mode radio, puts a network mode and an off-grid mode in one handset. The off-grid advice here is for US and Canadian readers; elsewhere, plan around global mode.
Why cell service fails in an emergency
In recent FCC storm reports, most cell sites listed as out lost power or their link back to the network, and few were listed as damaged. Two storms show the split.
On October 1, 2024, five days after Hurricane Helene, the FCC's status report showed 707 of the 1,452 cell sites in the affected North Carolina counties out of service, or 48.7%, and 20 of 22 in Yancey County. It listed 3 sites as out due to damage, 338 due to power and 303 due to transport.
Transport is the connection behind the site. The report's footnote calls these outages "connectivity issues between the cell site and other parts of the telecommunications network". In plain words, a tower can be standing and powered with nowhere to send your call.
Super Typhoon Sinlaku showed the power side more sharply. The FCC's April 16, 2026 report for Guam and the Northern Marianas listed 238 of 439 sites out, or 54.2%: 236 due to power, 2 due to damage and 0 due to transport.
These figures count sites out of service, not people without service. The FCC's own caveat is that the number of site outages "does not necessarily correspond to the availability of wireless service to consumers in that area". An overlapping site may still serve your street.
A site that lost power or its link is usually still standing. Service can return when either comes back, and your plan has to cover the hours or days in between.
Calls can also jam under load, and one carrier's core network can fail while its towers stay up. The ladder below covers both.
How long cell towers last without power
Cell site batteries can last four to eight hours, according to a January 16, 2025 letter from the FCC Chairwoman. Generators can typically run "approximately 12 to 48 hours without having to be refueled", but the letter says most companies have fixed generators at only "a small percentage of cell sites".
Portugal shows the same timing. When the grid failed there on April 28, 2025, the share of users with no service went from under 0.1% to over 10% within two hours, and the peak came six to eight hours in, according to Ookla's analysis, hosted by GSMA (July 8, 2025). That timing fits the FCC's figure, and Ookla ties the gap between networks to battery reserves: on the weakest, more than 90% of subscribers had no signal within four hours, while the best-performing peaked at just over 16%.
Backup rules and targets elsewhere:
- United Kingdom. Ofcom's June 2026 guidance sets no minimum hours for mobile sites, according to Bratby Law's summary. The government's Be Ready page says: "Your mobile phone might stop working if your local mast is in the affected area."
- Australia. The federal Mobile Network Hardening Program is funding battery upgrades at 467 base stations, to "at least 12 hours" of backup.
- Canada. British Columbia's government "recommends a minimum of 72 hours" for certain sites, according to the telecom industry's August 2026 filing to the CRTC.
So plan on the network thinning out within the first day, and agree on what happens next while phones still work.
The ladder: what still works at each stage
Start at stage 1 and move down a stage when its answers stop working. A direct radio talks straight to another radio with no network; a network push-to-talk radio uses whichever network it can reach.
| Stage | What has failed | Real example | What still works |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Calls jam | Capacity, not equipment | Portugal, April 28, 2025, per Ookla: home internet went down with the power, "unleashing a massive surge in traffic" on mobile networks | Text; short calls spaced out; a phone on Wi-Fi if it is up; a listen-only radio for news; direct radios; network push-to-talk, since a short burst of data needs less of a link than a held call |
| 2. One network down | One carrier's core network | US, February 22, 2024, per the FCC: more than 125 million devices, at least 12 hours, more than 25,000 911 calls failed. Canada, July 2022: 9-1-1 access cut, per the CRTC. Australia, November 8, 2023: about 12 hours, per Senate committee coverage, and ACMA found 2,145 people could not reach Triple Zero | A phone on another carrier, emergency calls (which can use another carrier), a network push-to-talk radio that switches carriers, a listen-only radio for news, direct radios |
| 3. Towers run out of power | Grid power, then batteries | Guam and the Northern Marianas, April 2026: the FCC listed 238 sites out, 236 of them due to power | Any site still powered, a network push-to-talk radio with a longer-reach antenna, a corded phone on a traditional line, a listen-only radio, direct radios |
| 4. No network at all | Nearly every local site | West Maui, August 13, 2023: 19 of 21 cell sites out | FRS, GMRS, ham, satellite messenger, LoRa mesh, dual-mode radio in off-grid mode (US and Canada), and a listen-only radio to hear news |
Sources: FCC and FEMA emergency tips, updated May 1, 2026; FEMA FAQ, updated June 18, 2025; Ookla via GSMA, July 8, 2025; FCC outage report, July 22, 2024; CRTC chairperson's statement, July 12, 2022; ACMA penalty announcement, November 8, 2024; Mumbrella on the Senate committee report, September 30, 2024; FCC on Sinlaku, April 16, 2026; FCC on Maui, August 14, 2023.
Calls jam (stage 1). Send a text first. The FCC says texts "may go through when your call may not", and FEMA says "Use text messages instead of phone calls." If you have to call, the FCC's advice is "Wait 10 seconds before redialing calls that don't connect."
One network is down (stage 2). Try a phone on a different carrier. The fault sits in one company's network. Still try the emergency number: in the 2024 US outage, phones that had connected to another carrier could still complete 911 calls.
Towers run out of power (stage 3). When your phone has no bars and keeps hunting, turn it off, which the FCC says "helps prevent the battery from draining". Then try a landline. A corded phone on a traditional line may work, while broadband phone service "will not work during electric outages without a battery or other backup power source". A network push-to-talk radio with a longer-reach antenna can also reach a farther site that still has power.
No network at all (stage 4). Use a radio that talks directly to another radio, or a satellite device. Direct radios reach only the people in range. Agree on the channel beforehand. A satellite messenger sends text from under a clear sky, and the guide to satellite two-way radios covers the costs. Service does come back: the FCC listed no West Maui sites out by August 20, 2023.
Emergency communication devices compared
Two questions sort every emergency communication device: whether it can talk back, and whether it needs a network. If you are working out how to communicate without cell service, look for the rows that talk back and need no cell or phone network: those are your off-grid communication devices.
| Option | Talks back? | Needs a network? | License | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text from a phone | Yes, to other phones | Yes | Does not apply | The FCC says it "may go through when your call may not", sometimes with a delay |
| Listen-only radio (hand crank, battery, NOAA) | No | No, it receives broadcasts | Does not apply | It has no transmitter, so it cannot reach your family |
| FRS (Family Radio Service) | Yes, radio to radio | No | US: no individual license | Up to 2 W on most channels. A few hundred yards to about a mile with things in the way, several miles in the open |
| GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) | Yes, radio to radio | No | US: individual license, $35 for ten years; family may operate | Direct radio reach, unless a repeater is in range |
| Ham (amateur) | Yes, radio to radio | No | US: pass an exam; FCC fee $35 | Useful only if you and the other person both hold a license and practice |
| Satellite messenger | Yes, by text | No cell network; needs a clear view of the sky | Does not apply | Service plan, from about $8 a month on one major maker's list. Not for indoors. An emergency button reaches outside help |
| LoRa mesh | Yes, short text only | No | None extra in most regions, per one mesh project | Small radios that relay short text, over "distances of several kilometers", per that project. Only useful if your people carry one |
| Corded landline | Yes, by voice | Yes, the phone network | Does not apply | A traditional line may work in a power outage. Broadband phone service will not without backup power |
| Network push-to-talk radio | Yes, one press reaches the group | Yes, a signal from any carrier it can reach | No FCC license needed, because it runs on the carriers' licensed networks | Where there is absolutely no coverage at all it waits for service, and the dual-mode row covers that gap |
| Dual-mode radio | Yes, in both modes | Network mode: yes. Off-grid: no network needed | Network mode: no FCC license needed. Off-grid: depends on the channel and country | One radio for network and off-grid use. Off-grid it talks to other UHF radios on a frequency it supports |
Sources: FCC and FEMA emergency tips, updated May 1, 2026; FCC fee guide, effective May 23, 2025; 47 CFR 95.305, 95.567, 95.1705 and 97.501 (eCFR, September 24, 2026); FRS reach from Echo Radios' range explainer; satellite and mesh details from one major maker's plan page and one mesh project's documentation, as of October 30, 2026.
Read the table by who you need to reach. For news, a listen-only radio is enough. For people on your street, a direct radio does the job: the GMRS, FRS and network push-to-talk guide covers licenses, and the guide to walkie talkies for emergencies sorts radios by scenario. For people across town you usually need a network, and in the US and Canada the last row adds a direct mode for when the network is gone.
What a dual-mode radio does at each stage
RIGR, a dual-mode radio for emergency communication, has one mode for each way a group can lose contact: global mode runs over the network, and off-grid mode talks radio to radio when no network is left. A network push-to-talk radio stops where the network stops and a direct radio stops at the edge of its own reach, so one handset covers both.
Global mode for stages 1 to 3
Global mode is RIGR's network mode. One press reaches the group, across town or abroad, with no distance limit where there is RIGR PoC coverage (PoC is push-to-talk over cellular).
At stage 1, that press sends a short burst of data, which needs less of a link than a held call. RIGR works across all major networks and switches to the strongest on its own, which answers stage 2. Its antenna reaches towers 3 to 4 times farther than a phone, which answers stage 3, when the nearest site has gone dark and a farther one still has power.
RIGR's global mode is encrypted with AES-256 and works in the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia and most other countries at no extra fee. There is no FCC license needed for it, because it runs on the carriers' licensed networks.
Off-grid mode for stage 4
With no network needed, RIGR works as an off-grid walkie talkie: radio to radio over built-in UHF, up to 10 miles apart in open terrain, less around buildings, trees and hills. Russel Dewalt, who wrote this post, tested two RIGR radios at 4 miles and they worked perfectly.
In off-grid mode, RIGR talks to any other UHF radio on a frequency it supports. It is an open channel, so private talk stays on global mode.
Off-grid mode works across 400 to 470 MHz, a range that includes license-free channels and licensed frequencies. The channel you use and whether you need a license depend on your country's rules.
The off-grid advice here is for US and Canadian readers. Elsewhere, plan around global mode, where one press reaches the group at no extra fee.
The plan that joins the two modes
In the US and Canada, agree on the fallback ahead of time: "if nobody answers, everyone switches to off-grid". Where there is absolutely no coverage at all, that switch keeps your group talking within radio reach. A phone's bars are not the test: no bars means one handset on one carrier could not hold a signal in that spot. Test the plan with the radios, in both modes, at home, at work and at your meeting place.
Add a radio to your family communication plan
Write the radio into your plan by hand. Ready.gov's plan page tells households to agree how they will reconnect, but its fillable card has no field for a radio group or channel, so it assumes the phone works.
- Name an out-of-town contact. The card has a field for one.
- Pick a meeting place. The card has four tiers, from indoors to out of town.
- Text first. Make sure everyone knows how to send one.
- Set a time to switch to the radio. Write it on the card with the group or channel, such as: no answer by the top of the hour, everyone goes to the radio.
- Keep a listen-only radio for news. Ready.gov's kit list names a "Battery-powered or hand crank radio", which is enough to hear the news.
- Charge everything. RIGR runs up to 5 days on a charge, depending on use, signal and temperature.
- Test it monthly. Send one text and make one radio call from each place you would be.
The emergency preparedness checklist covers the wider kit.
Frequently asked questions about emergency communication
What radios will work if cell towers are down?
Any radio that talks directly to another radio. In the US and Canada, that means FRS, GMRS, ham, or a dual-mode radio in off-grid mode, each within its own reach. License rules vary by radio and channel. A network push-to-talk radio needs a working tower; in those two countries, a dual-mode radio covers that gap in off-grid mode.
How do you communicate when there is no power?
A charged phone can still work while a nearby site has power, and the FCC says site batteries can last four to eight hours. A network push-to-talk radio with a longer-reach antenna can reach a farther powered site. If none is up, a corded phone on a traditional line may work, and battery radios that talk directly need no grid at all.
Why does my cell data stop working in a power outage?
Three common reasons: the site lost power and its batteries ran out, its link back to the network was cut, or the sites still up are overloaded because home internet went down and everyone moved to mobile. Try a text, which the FCC says may go through when a call may not.
Does a hand crank radio let me talk to my family?
No. A listen-only hand crank radio receives broadcasts and cannot transmit, so it hears the county, not your family. To talk back you need a two-way radio. In the US and Canada, that means FRS, GMRS or a dual-mode radio in off-grid mode. License rules vary by radio and channel.
Which emergency radio to buy
Everyone should start with a listen-only radio. It tells you what is happening at any stage where a station is still on the air. Then, if you want one radio for both network and off-grid use, buy RIGR, as long as each person you need to reach has a compatible radio and everyone has agreed when to switch. Outside the US and Canada, buy it for global mode.
RIGR costs $179.99 for one radio or $359.99 for a two-pack. The first year of service is included, then it is $20 per radio, per year, with no monthly bill and no contract. It comes with a 45-day money-back period and a 12-month warranty.
If that fits your household, order RIGR here. Radios from one order arrive set up and grouped, so your first monthly test can happen the day they arrive.