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London Attack Disrupts Phones, Web

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

July 7, 2005, 4:42 PM

Thursday's terrorist attacks on the public transportation system of the city of London have largely left the communications system of London intact. However, following the attacks it has been near impossible for any kind of communication to take place as networks were overloaded with calls.

All phone operators reported greatly increased activity on their networks and severe congestion. Several operators said customers were having to place calls several times in order to get a connection, although conditions improved throughout the day.

"No U.K. mobile phone operators have infrastructure in the tube, so there are no base stations that can be affected in the Underground system," Orange spokesperson Sarah Taylor told PCWorld.com early Thursday. "We have taken action to ensure maximum availability and improve traffic flow on our network in the London area."

A BT spokesperson requested that customers "only make essential calls" to allow emergency services easy access to phone lines for the near future.

The BBC Web site temporarily crashed during the morning British time following the attacks. It went live again midday after site designers had created a no-frills design to save bandwidth and transmit essential information to visitors.

The British government does have the right to take over the mobile phone network in times of emergency in order to facilitate emergency communications, but it did not ask mobile phone operators to do so Thursday.

The problems in London echoed similar problems in Madrid and New York following those cities' terrorist attacks.

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By stuclark

posted Jul 11, 2005 - 8:43 AM

Every mobile network went "emergency only" for a while - this was partly to give the emergency services priority access, and partly to prevent any further devices being set off by mobile phone (as was thought to have happened in Madrid).

None of the mobile networks "crashed" and most kept their data services available to general users.

The BBC website was only unavailable for maybe 5 minutes while they switched to the low bandwidth version.

I was using both my mobile and the BBC website for most of the day, so can verify this info.

Score: 0

By alceac

edited Jul 8, 2005 - 10:35 PM

The Bloody London Attack

After this horrible day in London, I see the Islamic website praising the murder of completely innocent people in London as if it is a tremendous victory for Islam. What a shame. What a senseless waste of human life to further the terrorist goals fueled by a religious society bent on blood offerings to their god. These people actually believe that by slaughtering innocents, they will be held in high regard in the eyes of Allah. They believe he will bless them with eternal life filled with sexual acts not allowed on Earth. They believe they are serving their god by committing barbaric and evil acts of cowardice and that by slaughtering people who have committed no crime. In fact, with London being one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe, one might think that Muslims would be a bit friendlier to England and her generous policy of allowing them in, and to practice their religion. An act not reciprocated by many Islamic nations without becoming a criminal or target of murder.

What do these Islamists think will be the end result of all these cowardly and evil acts? Some Muslims will claim that this is not the way of Islam. Others will take up the Koran and Hadiths and show precisely where they are commanded to perform these acts. If Allah is so mighty, why would he ever send a suicidal maniac to slaughter innocent people? Is Allah so afraid of the truth that he must kill to prove his words? Is Allah so grandiose that he needs to have his own followers commit suicide while planting bombs in civilian areas? Is Allah so fearful; of losing his followers and religion that he needs to kidnap and kill on an almost daily basis? Is Allah so afraid of being wrong that he needs to have people forced into Islam and kept oppressed with the pains of torture, enslavement, or death in order to keep them from leaving? Is Allah so afraid that he commands death to all who leave Islam? What is Allah's fascination with death and terror that his followers feel the need to commit these hell spawned acts of evil in order to appease him and be able to lust for eternity in a harem of little boys and young virgin women?

No Muslim can tell me anything of Islam that is not seen daily in Israel, Europe, America, Africa, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. I do not buy into the common answer that these are but a mere tiny populous of Islam. Not when the majority of all wars and conflicts on Earth today are due to Islam and its adherents. Because if this is just a tiny populous of Allah's' followers, it would seem a mighty easy task for Islam to grasp hold of its own minority and straighten them out without help from infidel nations. It would seem too easy for them to govern their own and control their own rabid dogs without interference from nations who serve gods that never call for blood or suicide. Yet we now as a civilization need come together and act using fire to battle fire. It is not our choice, but when one gets terrorized by cowards and evil one must stand to thwart these acts. These bloody acts will never further the cause of Islam. They only will aggravate the rest of the world. It will end up banishing Islam from civilization due to the evil acts generates from its writings and fanatics. People of London may know that we in America pledge full support to their cause. May God bless England, and they must know that in America we grieve with you, we weep with you, and we stand with you in.

Score: 0

By Vampmon

posted Jul 8, 2005 - 7:31 AM

Actually, low bandwidth mode was created yesterday on the BBC website, and only part of the mobile network(s) was closed to the public for the emergency services.

Score: 0

By googun

posted Jul 8, 2005 - 6:27 AM

That's not what was reported by BBC News and other reputable news sources here in the UK. It was widely reported that the mobile phone networks WERE blocked for ordinary users, so that emergency services could communicate. The BBC website's low bandwidth mode was created after September 11 for high demand situations; it was not made on the day of the London attack.

Score: 0

By googun

posted Jul 8, 2005 - 10:42 AM

Hi Vampmon. I only have the news reports to refer to on the matter of the phone networks. It is quite possible that some networks were unaffected. I am still sure that the low bandwidth (low graphics) version of the website was put in place after Sept 11, even if it has only now been made a user-selectable option. Prior to this, so far as I am aware, the decision to switch to low bandwidth mode was made by the webmaster, not the user. Unfortunately, the BBC news archive is a little thin on stories about its own news website, so I can't point to anything to verify my view.

Score: 0

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