30-Mar-2011 20:22

Experiencing Broadband Problems?

Nowadays, we all pretty much take for granted that we are able to sit comfortably on our leather sofas in leafy Surrey, Yorkshire or Manchester watching exciting Cricket World Cup matches beamed live & uninterrupted from Mumbai, Dhaka & Bangalore or the American Super Bowl Finals live & direct from the US via Satellite communications which support TV and video services…

However, the same cannot be said for Internet services...
Recent tectonic movements causing earthquakes and tsunamis both on land and under seas have brought about the realisation of how easily services and best-laid plans are laid awry.

The Internet, and international telecommunications to a degree, is supported by an enormous, snaking network of copper & fibre-optic cabling. For efficient internet connection, some form of cabling infrastructure must be in place.

Much of the world’s fibre-optic cables are submarine. The cables are laid, often at significant expense and toil, under the sea; most are reinforced & encased in nine or more component layers to ensure as little disturbance and guard against as minimal breakage as possible.

So why do we all, at times, experience outages, slowdowns and internet service interruptions?

There will always be ongoing service & compression issues & poor internet speeds but periodically, there may be major problems when cables become detached.

As an example, cables running under the Mediterranean recently become severed. The broken cables connecting Egypt & Italy resulted in major outages with Broadband Internet services disrupted in Middle-Eastern countries including Iran, India and Egypt.

Of larger concern was major disruption to telecommunication services in those countries - including India which sadly affected many thousands of outsourced call-centres and thus much UK out-sourced company services.

Happily, contingency plans were fairly swiftly initiated by large providers including BT & others to re-route networks to avoid disruption.
Although there was a marked reduction in telecoms provision & services were not Tier-1 quality, reports showed the telephone network remained in operation.

In Taiwan, 2006, following an earthquake which destroyed seven of the eight main cables connecting mainland Asia, Broadband and telecommunication services were disrupted for many consumers.

The problem remains however; that the many rather smaller companies often cannot support these expensive contingency plans and thus their clients - be they business or residential – can and do suffer.

So the next time you are happily ensconced in your comfy chair hitting the keypad or playing an online game, Blogging, sharing on Facebook, watching missed episodes on BBC iPlayer or Tweeting inane thoughts to the world, remember that the, taken for granted & reliable internet, may not be just as stable as you may have thought…