How to stay in touch when mobile networks go down

We rely on our phones for everything, but phone masts need electricity too. In a long power cut, many masts only run for a few hours on backup batteries. Storms can damage them, and big incidents can overload the network just when everyone is trying to call home.

None of this means you'll be cut off. It just means having a plan B (and C). Here's how to keep your household in touch and up to date when the network goes quiet.

1. Make a family plan before you need it

The cheapest and most effective step costs nothing:

• Agree a meeting point near home and one further away, in case you can't get home.
• Write key numbers on paper. Most of us don't know our family's mobile numbers by heart. Keep a copy in your wallet, your car and your grab bag.
• Pick an out-of-area contact, such as a relative in another part of the country, that everyone checks in with. Calls to a different area can sometimes get through when local lines are busy.
• Agree a check-in time, for example on the hour, so you're not draining batteries waiting for a call.

2. Make your phone last

• Keep a charged power bank in your kit. Top it up every few months.
• Switch on low-power mode and turn down the screen brightness.
• When signal is weak, your phone burns battery searching for it. If you're not expecting calls, switch to airplane mode and check in at agreed times.
• Texts often get through when calls won't, because they need far less network capacity.
• In an emergency, always try 999. Mobile 999 calls can connect through any available network, not just your own.

3. Keep getting news with a radio

When the internet's down, FM radio still works. Local stations broadcast travel updates, power cut information and official advice during big incidents. A wind-up and solar radio needs no mains power or batteries, and most can charge a phone in an emergency too. Write down your local station frequencies now.

Also make sure your phone can receive government Emergency Alerts. These are sent to every compatible phone in an affected area when there's a danger to life.

4. Talk locally with licence-free walkie-talkies (PMR446)

Two-way radios don't need a phone network at all. In the UK, PMR446 radios are licence-exempt: anyone can buy and use them without a licence or any training.

• Range: a few hundred metres in towns, and up to a couple of kilometres in open country with a clear line of sight.
• Good for: keeping in touch with family on the same street or estate, checking on a neighbour, or between the car and the house.
• Things to know: anyone on the same channel can hear you, so don't share personal details. Only buy radios marked as PMR446. Many cheap imported radios (such as the popular Baofeng models) transmit on frequencies that need a licence in the UK.

Our licence-free PMR446 walkie-talkies come as a pair and run on AA batteries, so you can keep spares and never worry about charging during a power cut.

5. Send texts off-grid with Meshtastic

For the more technically minded, Meshtastic is a free, open-source project that lets small, low-power radios send text messages to each other without any phone network or internet.

• Each device pairs with your phone over Bluetooth, and you type messages in the Meshtastic app as normal.
• Messages hop from device to device across a mesh, so every extra device in an area extends the range. Many UK towns already have community-run Meshtastic nodes.
• In the UK, devices use the 868 MHz band, which is licence-exempt. Make sure you buy the 868 MHz version, not the 915 MHz one sold for the US.
• Battery life is measured in days, not hours.

The catch: you need at least two devices (one for you, one for whoever you want to message), and a bit of setup. It's brilliant for tech-savvy households and for staying in touch across a town; walkie-talkies are simpler for everyone else.

Meshtastic® is a registered trademark of Meshtastic LLC. Hunker Bunker isn't affiliated with or endorsed by the Meshtastic project.

Which should you choose?

Start with the free family plan, add a power bank and radio, and consider walkie-talkies if you want to stay in touch locally without a signal. Tick it all off with our free Be Ready checklist.

Sources: UK Government Be Ready, Ofcom licence exemption, Meshtastic. Hunker Bunker isn't affiliated with the UK government or Ofcom.