HONG KONG — The residents of Tonga, a remote island nation 1,100 miles northeast of New Zealand, have gained unwanted perspective on how much they’ve come to depend on the internet. An underwater fiber-optic cable that connects Tongans to high-speed internet was severed on Jan. 20, plunging the roughly 100,000 residents into digital darkness. Internet connections were lost on the country’s more than 170 islands, international calls wouldn’t go through and credit card payments couldn’t be processed. Eleven days later, officials are still working to repair the damage as trickles of connectivity have returned, including phone service. And with precious little bandwidth available, officials have blocked sites like Facebook and YouTube so that essential services can squeeze through.

Source: New York Times January 31, 2019 09:11 UTC