Internet Hit by Cable Breakdown

Techtree News Staff, Jan 31, 2008 1228 hrs IST

Internet access in India and large parts of West Asia has been hit following breakdown of two undersea cables in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Bogged down by slower-than-usual Internet speeds for the last couple of days? Brace yourself for a couple more such days...

The reason: Internet access in India and large parts of West Asia including the UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia has been hit following breakdown of two undersea cables in the Mediterranean Sea.

The disruption was caused by an anchoring ship that accidentally damaged Indian-owned Flag cable and SEA-ME-WE after being diverted from the Egyptian port of Alexandria due to bad weather.

Repair teams have already set sail for the location but the disruption that started yesterday hasn't yet been resolved. Reportedly, it will take a week to a fortnight to restore services back to normalcy.

Indian Internet service providers have put the disruption at 60 percent of normal services, while those in Egypt have put it down at 70 percent of normal services.

The Indian capital almost but all logged out following the disruption, with Internet service providers putting it down at at least a 50 percent loss of service.

Across the country, irritable customers complained that they were unable to access Web sites and that the Internet was drearily slow. Cyber cafes had no explanation for the Internet's erratic behavior. By contrast, BPOs across the country remained largely unaffected by the breakdown.

Indian Internet service providers have now said they've started a downgraded service, but that full restoration might be possible only after ten to fifteen days.

Apart from India, Cairo suffered a partial disruption of Internet services and other telecommunications across most of Egypt. Internet services were also disrupted in Dubai in the UAE. International telephone services were affected by the cable breakdown.

USER COMMENTS

our connection is such an annoying matterfor our customer... we even lost and still losing our valued customers as we handle an internet cafe up to this time... what an interruption...!!!!

by Noriel, Philippines, on Aug 14, 2009 08:55 AM, Report abuse Reply

valuable information

by praveen, alappuzha, on Jan 01, 2009 11:52 AM, Report abuse Reply

when will English ever stop being killed and bulldozed??!! lol... Even complaining in English or passing information is hard!! Might as well look at the newspaper or article and type... ANY SCHOOL LOOKING FOR ENGLISH TEACHER??!!! Internet down people get back to life for a while after that it will be back to the grind!!!

by Micky, Chennai, on Apr 01, 2008 08:37 AM, Report abuse Reply

if today is the 10th of February 08. How many days from today will it be fixed as internet speed is extremely slow.

by Haider, Sharjah, on Feb 11, 2008 06:08 AM, Report abuse Reply

When will this be fixed????????

by john, kuwait, on Feb 06, 2008 03:52 AM, Report abuse Reply

how much time it will take resolve probleme as soon as?

by kailash, mumbai, on Feb 05, 2008 07:33 PM, Report abuse Reply

its just an example of how great our infrastructure is.

by naveenchaudhary, meerut, on Feb 01, 2008 11:40 AM, Report abuse Reply

wtf.. what does a ship hitting a cable main have to do with infrastructure :/

by Puneet, mumbai, on Feb 01, 2008 11:51 AM, Report abuse

get the meaning of Infrastructure from dictionary

by father, Punjab, on Feb 04, 2008 08:49 PM, Report abuse

read this(from Nostredamus Code) Fiasco from communication breakdown between two superpowers (Century II, Quatrains 35 and 48) Through a mistake, a breakdown in communications between two powerful countries will occur. The situation is a lot more complex than will appear on the surface. The leader involved will feel great regret about what happened and will want to continue his career and help correct the situation, to help make up for the adverse affects. But he will be hung, symbolically, by others wishing to take his position in the organization. He will be hung as far as politics and his career are concerned. It will almost be like committing suicide because in the end he will be a broken man. The entire event will be viewed as a fiasco from both sides. It will have very harmful and even cataclysmic consequences

by Jaswinder Singh, Barnala Punjab, on Feb 04, 2008 08:41 PM, Report abuse Reply

y dont they use sattelite for this.....data transmission for long range...

by sharad k, pune, on Jan 31, 2008 01:55 PM, Report abuse Reply

cant we ever stop complaining? its cut...ok...take a days rest...a wire after is born to be cut,isnt it?:P

by Aveek, Kolkata, on Feb 01, 2008 11:04 AM, Report abuse

People complaining here just read this you will come to know what India has in terms of connectivity and what limitations are also its ISP?s who are not giving enough connectivity to users and not India?s infrastructure. economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Internet_/Hydra-headed_nature_helps_Net_rebound_after_cable_cut/articleshow/2753865.cms

by Ablenwill, Pune, on Feb 04, 2008 11:03 AM, Report abuse

i have a 1Mbps Tata Indicom internet connection and i don't even have 1% packet loss. download speeds are upto full capacity. so long suckers

by Anonymous, wherever, on Feb 04, 2008 08:49 AM, Report abuse Reply

why? shame on you

by Eknath bhutal, Mumbai, on Feb 02, 2008 05:12 PM, Report abuse Reply

"Information technology companies, software companies and call centres that provide online services to the UK or the US east coast are the worst affected," Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers' Association of India, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

by DHIRAJ murarka, india, on Feb 01, 2008 07:23 PM, Report abuse Reply

Repair work Neither of the cable operators have confirmed the cause or location of the outage but some reports suggest it was caused by a ship's anchor near the port of Alexandria in Egypt.

by DHIRAJ murarka, india, on Feb 01, 2008 07:21 PM, Report abuse Reply

In the world of wireless communications we are still dependent on wires. Great!!!! Are the communication wires keep floating in the sea or they are fixed to the sea bed?

by Anonymous, Delhi, on Feb 01, 2008 04:27 PM, Report abuse Reply

I was wondering that we have to stop using blogs, posting messages, using chat groups and use internet for useful purpose (checking mails) till it is solved. It should help others. Am I right?

by Sikander, Chennai, on Feb 01, 2008 03:27 PM, Report abuse Reply

This is a small caution to all of us concerned to the future disasters.

by dinesh parmar, rohtak, on Feb 01, 2008 12:18 PM, Report abuse Reply

i don't know correctly, if you are aware just reply me about it..... i.e. what about our satellite internet facility....if a cable break-down occured

by ashok marar, thrissur, kerala, on Feb 01, 2008 12:07 PM, Report abuse Reply

Hats off to TATA's. Mt broadband (DSL) has been working fine for the past two days almost to 80% of normal efficiency. Yes Reliance lines got almost dead. TATA's keep it up.

by Nanda, Pune, on Feb 01, 2008 08:10 AM, Report abuse Reply

tata goes down when everything is fine hahah

by Abdullla, Allahabad, on Feb 01, 2008 10:38 AM, Report abuse

First of all our broad band srvice is slower than anywehre in the world , over that this.. i Couldnt even check my mail past 2 days

by Joomla, Mangalore, on Feb 01, 2008 10:24 AM, Report abuse Reply

Sir, Go for one day rest

by Ritesh, faridabad, on Jan 31, 2008 06:33 PM, Report abuse Reply

It means still India not able to handle a crisis, without an alternative how can .........one cable cut, down 60% if there is 2 cant we imagine

by Joe, Cochin, on Jan 31, 2008 01:16 PM, Report abuse Reply

Strange enough ! we are stressed when we are flooded with emails and we are stressed now also, when emails are not flooding us.. the question is, what are we runnin for ???

by Anil, New Delhi, on Jan 31, 2008 04:25 PM, Report abuse

It 'll take minimum 15 days to get repair & about 8 days to make low grade connectivity to international gateway

by HolyLOL.com, HolyLOL.com, on Jan 31, 2008 03:25 PM, Report abuse Reply

This is begining of the futrure disasters on dependability on OFC, tomorrow i ma be even worse when we stop paper work completely

by Manjunath.B.S, Bangallore, on Jan 31, 2008 02:56 PM, Report abuse Reply

This is an small example which is enough to show us that in this fast moving era how safe our most dependable sourse is and much one can affect the development by hiting on it. There is a need to avoid such situations in future. As from 60-70% loss it can be of 100% and It is very hard to imagine today a world without an internet.

by Anonymous, bathinda, on Jan 31, 2008 02:54 PM, Report abuse Reply

Do there are any alternative options planed for we have to wait intill repair.

by Tushar, Pune, on Jan 31, 2008 02:53 PM, Report abuse Reply

How come we move ahead without the internet now a days? It's un conceivable. It leads to lot of problems...

by Shashidhar, Mumbai, on Jan 31, 2008 02:18 PM, Report abuse Reply

Hello Shashidhar, keep patience, because it is an accident. Kousik Indas(W.B)

by Kousik Ghosh, Indas(W.B), on Jan 31, 2008 02:42 PM, Report abuse

upto wht extent it has been damaged n hw long it vl be repaired

by amourindian, new delhi, on Jan 31, 2008 02:41 PM, Report abuse Reply

I am understood the problem from google news, that in Mediterranean sea cable in broke down. So we have to wait until the cable repair.

by Kousik Ghosh, Indas(W.B), on Jan 31, 2008 02:39 PM, Report abuse Reply

This is a small caution to all of us concerned to the future disasters.