

Is the Internet going down? Undersea sub-cables have just broken... - gibsonf1
http://timesonline.typepad.com/technology/2008/12/is-the-internet.html

======
windsurfer
The internet seems fine. I don't kn

~~~
alex_c
Oh come on. That joke was old on Slashdot 10 years ago.

~~~
Angostura
And you know what?

It's still funny.

I find it is always worth a peek at this
<http://www.internettrafficreport.com/main.htm>

before getting too doom-laden.

+++ATH0

~~~
GHFigs
That can easily backfire. I remember the last time this happened people
pointed to an ITR page showing that a router in Iran being inaccessible as
evidence that all of Iran was offline and that this could only mean that a US
invasion was imminent. Meanwhile, if you actually went to the domain under
which that router sat, you'd find The Iranian University of Science &
Technology (<http://www.iust.ac.ir/>), up the whole time.

I think people will see doom and gloom wherever they want to see it.

------
Xichekolas
Every time one of those cables has a mishap, we get one of these stories...
and every time, I find myself reading the story online...

So no. Give it a rest with the doom and gloom already.

------
gaius
I am working on this issue _right now_.

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andr
Perhaps the next target for terrorism?

Are there really only 4 cables that carry all the traffic? I would expect some
sort of redundancy.

~~~
KevBurnsJr
Terrorism? It's the internet, not an oil pipeline.

Did that word ever hold any meaning at all?

~~~
DenisM
Didn't you get the memo? The latest terrorist plans inlude clogging your
tubes, raping your dog and drinking all your beer. Nothing is safe anymore,
nothing.

------
jalammar
I'm in Saudi Arabia. It's near dial-up on a 4mbps DSL link. Though loading
sites seems to have more trouble making connection than downloading on an
established link (if you've used a satellite connection, it's like that). Our
Sysadmin sent this today:

(from
[http://www.francetelecom.com/en_EN/press/press_releases/cp08...](http://www.francetelecom.com/en_EN/press/press_releases/cp081219en.html)
)

A first appraisal at 7:44 am UTC gave an estimate of the following impact on
the voice traffic (in percentage of out of service capacity):

    
    
      -    Djibouti: 71% out of service 
      -    Egypt: 52% out of service 
      -    United Arab Emirates: 68% out of service 
      -    India: 82% out of service 
      -    Lebanon: 16% out of service 
      -    Malaysia: 42% out of service 
      -    Maldives: 100% out of service 
      -    Pakistan: 51% out of service 
      -    Qatar: 73% out of service 
      -    Saudi Arabia: 55% out of service 
      -    Syria: 36% out of service 
      -    Taiwan: 39% out of service 
      -    Yemen: 38% out of service 
      -    Zambia: 62% out of service

------
ComputerGuru
I'm in Jordan, one of the countries serviced by the Sea Me lines (though for
some odd reason it's not listed in the reports online), and several hours I
called my ISP to complain about < dial-up rates on my 2mbps ADSL line. They
told me that the telcom company had informed them of cut lines in the Aqaba
region, and that they were re-routing traffic as we spoke.

Net speeds are back to normal now, though response times are still a bit off.

------
tlrobinson
This is the second time in less than a year (I think?) that multiple backbones
in the Middle East have been broken simultaneously...

~~~
GHFigs
Your elipsis suggests you find that suspicious, but why?

The second time in less than a year sounds suspicious, but the time you are
thinking of was in late January. Is it really any more suspicious to happen
again 11 months later rather than 12? It's only a cognitive bias that makes
"one year" sound like a much longer time than "11 months". Also consider that
this would be the same season and thus similar weather conditions and fishing
seasons, and that the accepted conclusion about January's event was that
particularly bad weather conditions at the time caused a large number of ships
in the Mediterranean to drop anchor, the dragging of which is a common cause
of cable cuts.

That it is multiple backbones and they broke simultaneously sounds suspicious,
but these cables are all located quite close together, close enough that it's
possible they could be severed by the same event. No coordination or intent is
necessary.

That it is the Middle East sounds suspicious, but who is the suspect, and what
is the motive? The fact is that this is more of an inconvenience than real
harm to anybody, and doesn't appear to benefit anybody, either. If it was a US
action, why does it primarily inconvenience US allies and economic partners?
If it was a terrorist act, why has nobody taken responsibility for it?

~~~
yters
It's suspicious if the events are getting more frequent. Have these cables
broken much before last Jan?

~~~
GHFigs
"Undersea cable damage is hardly rare--indeed, more than 50 repair operations
were mounted in the Atlantic alone last year, according to marine cable repair
company Global Marine Systems." --
<http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20152/?a=f>

I see no reason why these cables would be any different, though as noted in
the same article, the fact that there are far fewer means that each cut is
more significant (and thus newsworthy). The rest of the article is fairly
grounding, too.

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pmorici
How do they "fix" a broken fiber cable deep in the ocean?

~~~
joeyo
Like this: [http://www1.alcatel-
lucent.com/submarine/how/inputs/repairin...](http://www1.alcatel-
lucent.com/submarine/how/inputs/repairing/repairing.htm)

~~~
Shamiq
That was a great explanation.

One of my all-time favorites, though, is this one:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tcp_synflood.png>

------
IsaacSchlueter
Oh noes!! It's not just me!!

<http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/the+internet>

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Tichy
<http://www.istheinternetdown.com/> seems to be still available...

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zandorg
I had some problems accessing some webpages, but that was probably due to a
Trojan which I got rid of. Then the web was fine.

------
pavelludiq
My internet is really slow today. It took me 15 minutes to download CherryPy!

