We got a small taste of internet loss last week.
My fiber optics box took a lightning strike and fried the device that converts to the coax output. We had no internet for 3 days. Had to rely on watching DVDs and locally stored streaming video.
A major ice storm a couple years ago knocked down most of the antennas on top of buildings that let them connect to the payment systems, so you could walk into Walgreens and they had power but no connection to verify payment card info.
There was a line of people begging to buy items from cigarettes to cold medicine. I held up a $20 bill, said I can pay for what I have, and was ushered to the front of the line. I paid for diapers and stuff for a sick toddler and walked out. Only after I did that did others even seem to think of trying cash.
We did several years ago when we had an ice storm. I'm sitting here thinking now why did we have to have the generator running? Maybe our computers were dead from using up juice? Anyway, I would get the generator going about once a day then my mother, myself and my daughter would all go running for our computers so we could tell everyone we were still without electricity!