Olympic Sized Frak Up

[Hermiod]

Olympic Contractor Cuts East London Off.

Ten of thousands of people in east London are without phone and internet access after underground cables were damaged.

British Telecom (BT) said 50,000 addresses lost their service after the damage in a tunnel on Saturday.

The company said the vast majority of customers, including commercial ones, have now been reconnected.

The problem has also caused road congestion as traffic lights have been cut off from the computer system.

More from BT Openreach on the problem.

It's not affecting me. I live in an area that they're saying might be affected.

 

[Geckothan]

So glad I live just outside London and not in it, I'd go mad without the internet. Surprised BT have fixed it already, I thought their incompetent engineers would still be figuring out where the tunnel is and how to get into it, given their track record.

 

[Hermiod]

^They haven't fixed it.

 

[Geckothan]

I didn't read either link fully, but I assumed this -

The company said the vast majority of customers, including commercial ones, have now been reconnected.

- meant they'd at least made a start on fixing it. I guess BT engineers are as bad at their job as I am at reading things through.

 

[Hermiod]

I didn't read either link fully, but I assumed this -

The company said the vast majority of customers, including commercial ones, have now been reconnected.

- meant they'd at least made a start on fixing it. I guess BT engineers are as bad at their job as I am at reading things through.

The phones can be re-routed but there are a few ISPs such as Be and Claranet who still aren't back up.

 

[Mallory]

Bah, that kind of thing is to be expected when a major project is undertaken. People should be able to live for a few hours without phone or internet service.

 

[Hermiod]

Bah, that kind of thing is to be expected when a major project is undertaken. People should be able to live for a few hours without phone or internet service.

A few hours is one thing, but this happened on Saturday afternoon and it's still not back up.

 

[John Picard]

Bah, that kind of thing is to be expected when a major project is undertaken. People should be able to live for a few hours without phone or internet service.

A few hours is one thing, but this happened on Saturday afternoon and it's still not back up.

Hmm, I would have thought Londoners would be more "progressive" and would have a cell phone as the primary phone. I do, so I could care less if my local phone line service was interrupted.

 

[Geckothan]

Seeing as most of England is using DSL (or cable, but most people I know have DSL), it's more a case of people raging that they can't use the internet than not being able to use their landline phones. Who DOESN'T have a mobile nowadays anyway?

 

[jamestyler]

Does this have anything to do with the problems T Mobile had around the same time? I was cut off for a day and a bit for mobile broadband.

 

[Mallory]

Bah, that kind of thing is to be expected when a major project is undertaken. People should be able to live for a few hours without phone or internet service.

A few hours is one thing, but this happened on Saturday afternoon and it's still not back up.

OK, a few days then. C'mon, life existed without the net and it still can. Except for the addicts.

 

[Geckothan]

Nonsense. Internet is life!

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Who DOESN'T have a mobile nowadays anyway?

I don't.

 

[Verteron]

Does this have anything to do with the problems T Mobile had around the same time? I was cut off for a day and a bit for mobile broadband.

Yeah, it affected mobile phone networks too, they run cables through this duct to connect their cell towers together.

Most hilariously (and I say that in an ironic way) it's also knocked out all of Transport for London's traffic light controls for East London. They now can't change the phasing sequence in rush hour (the traffic lights are all operating in 'local mode' rather than 'coordinated mode') which is causing major tailbacks on busy routes.

See for more info.

We had a pretty appalling day at the office today due to this. I hope someone gets it in the neck.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Seeing as most of England is using DSL (or cable, but most people I know have DSL), it's more a case of people raging that they can't use the internet than not being able to use their landline phones. Who DOESN'T have a mobile nowadays anyway?

 

[Verteron]

Seeing as most of England is using DSL (or cable, but most people I know have DSL), it's more a case of people raging that they can't use the internet than not being able to use their landline phones. Who DOESN'T have a mobile nowadays anyway?

You guys in the non-mobile brigade ought to read John Humphry's recent piece on why they actually turn out to be useful. It explains things farm more elegantly than I could (I'm sorry it's in the Mail, but he's an eloquent writer despite the mud upon which his words are now published...)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Who DOESN'T have a mobile nowadays anyway?

I don't.

Me neither.

 

[Mallory]

I don't have one either.

 

[John Picard]

Heh. I have wireless broadband and a wireless phone, yet I don't have a digital television (only 4 channels here).

 

[jamestyler]

Does this have anything to do with the problems T Mobile had around the same time? I was cut off for a day and a bit for mobile broadband.

Yeah, it affected mobile phone networks too, they run cables through this duct to connect their cell towers together.

Most hilariously (and I say that in an ironic way) it's also knocked out all of Transport for London's traffic light controls for East London. They now can't change the phasing sequence in rush hour (the traffic lights are all operating in 'local mode' rather than 'coordinated mode') which is causing major tailbacks on busy routes.

See for more info.

We had a pretty appalling day at the office today due to this. I hope someone gets it in the neck.

Thank you kindly

The guys at T Mobile seemed as confused as I were when I called, I wondered if there was a bigger problem.

Good luck to all in London who had to deal with that!