RSSSnip, snip, snip: Three undersea cables cut
By Angela Gunn | Published December 19, 2008, 2:01 PM
Internet and voice traffic to much of the Middle East and south Asia has been disrupted by the overnight loss of three major cables spanning the Mediterranean.
According to a notice from France Telecom, the three provisioning cables linking Sicily to Egypt were lost within about 40 minutes of one another Friday morning (local time). A France Telecom-owned maintenance ship will be dispatched to inspect the site within a few hours. Until then, it's not known what might have caused the cuts.
The three cables involved carry about 75% of telecom traffic to the region. The release states that much traffic between Europe and Asia is being re-routed through the US. Internet service seems to be most affected in Jordan, when it's estimated that connectivity is down by 50%. Estimates given for voice-service disruptions indicate that the hardest-hit countries so far are Maldives (100% out of service), India (82% out of service), Qatar (73%), Djibouti (71%), and United Arab Emirates (68%). Anecdotal reports also suggest that Egypt's widely affected as well.
The Internet Traffic Report at press time showed, as seen in the chart pictured (live view available), that traffic's certainly down and packet loss is up.
It should go without saying that fixing a fiberoptic cable at the bottom of the sea isn't as easy as swapping one strand of CAT5 for another under your desk, but some may be surprised to hear how exposed such cables often are. Many simply lie on the seabed and are buried only by whatever silt or debris collects over them. That certainly speeds up the process of getting to them when necessary, but if a cable is snagged by something dragging along the bottom (e.g., an anchor from a ship heading for the nearby Port of Alexandria), trouble can result.
At least one of the cables cut, the $500 million, 19,000 km, 1.28 Tbps SEA-ME-WE-4 stretching between France and Singapore, was one of the two cables involved the last time this happened, back in late January. That well-studied outage affected much the same area and, though storms in the region were suspected of having caused debris or an abandoned ship's anchor to sever the cables, no cause was ever identified. Four other significant cables were cut or damaged in the general region at about the same time, leading to much concern over the fragility of the Interwebs.
The other affected cables are SEA-ME-WE-3 (an earlier cable from the same 16-nation consortium, which took up much of the load during the January outage) and FLAG, a newer and supposedly more resilient cable.
France Telecom representatives currently think that SEA-ME-WE-4 could be fixed by Christmas Day, and that things should be getting back to normal by New Year's, marine weather permitting. Meanwhile, users around the world may see some congestion as traffic is re-routed.
Um.... I hate to actually bring the topic ... um ... well BACK TO TOPIC, but how do you spin off from cut cables in the Mediterranean to the Health Care System in Canada vs US vs anywhere else?
Way to spin off topic there, guys!
Score: 0
|Heh..
New here?
:p
Score: 0
|How d'you think I feel, Sparxx2k7? :-) I'm actually a cable geek, enjoy discussing infrastructure, and not incidentally chose this article to write of all the possible articles I could've tackled that day. I come back after the weekend and... this. Sometimes I understand how bartenders must feel when they walk in the door at work and the usual customers are having the same arguments they were having when the bartender's last s*** ended -- as near as I can describe it, a weird mix of relief that the world continues to spin predictably on its axis, and the thrumming urge to grab the seltzer bottles and take aim.
Score: 0
|*ducks*
I knew I should have worn the seltzer-proof jacket today...
Score: 0
|Um ... wasn't the original article about accidentally (or whatever the cause) cut cables? How do cut cables spawn Health Care??? Wow... way to get fired up over nothing about the article...
Score: 0
|I say dont repair them, my mail server is finally able to take a break from processing spam.
Score: 0
|Hahaha.
Score: 0
|wow maybe a terrorist did it!
Score: 0
|Maybe it's the samali pirates branching out to hijack the interweb! Let's not forget to bring any credible threat to the table!
Score: 0
|Either a diliberate cut or a major non-recorded earthquake that basicly broke the cables in 2 pieces.
Score: 0
|a "non-recorded earthquake" in the 'oh so remote' Mediterranean - sufficient to break armored cables?
Score: 0
|If it were made and laid by the lowest bidder.........
Score: 0
|Yup nitwit, that would explain the "non-recorded earthquake" in an area monitored by umpteen monitoring stations operated by state of the art government and military sources from around the world.
Go back and watch you TV monitor and listen to Hannah on your iPod.
Score: 0
|I see what you did there. By associating him with popular culture, you have insulted his intelligence!
Score: 0
|Meh. Hard to say without more data (forthcoming now that the ship's on the scene I hope), but I always bet on undersea debris in these rather common situations -- a random accident, stuff dragging along and hitting other stuff. Deliberate cuts of three separate cables over the course of 40 minutes with no one detecting the activity and no one laying claim to the action -- not so much.
(And yes, looking back I think I would prefer to have used "severed" in that headline, not "cut." Gives the wrong tone, frankly.)
Score: 0
|Oh, it was definitely a ship that cut those cables. That much is certain.
Score: 0
|"Many simply lie on the seabed and are buried only by whatever silt or debris collects over them."
Ya think?
Score: 0
|Apparently you don't.
Score: 0
|Not now they don't. They lie inside a smelting chamber now :)
Score: 0
|Oh no, and now the Canadian socialist is 'thinking' to himself, "gee, that would be an easy source of copper to entitle myself to in order to buy a real computer monitor and to then pay for a taxi to drive me 1000km to get that "for local pickup only" iPhone those lousy corporate scabs screwed me over."
No one tell him that fiber doesn't have copper...We wouldn't want to deprive him of another industry to blame for his stupidity.
LOL! What a hoser...aye
Score: 0
|*Psst* It was me being facetious about the smelting.
Score: 0
|I truly feel sorry for Libertopian retards like you. The real world is not to your liking so you make things up. No wonder America is in such deep s**t, because of idiots who think like you.
Why don't you come to Canada and get some affordable meds, like many of your seniors have to do.
BTW, I see just how jealous you of my new 32" monitor that I didn't have to pay for. I also have an iPod video that I didn't have to pay for either.
If everyone thought like you we'd all still be back in the days of the Robber Barons and the later Great Depression.
You've lost even before you got started. Your way of thinking is what is destroying your country. The Soviets, and the terrorists had nothing on people like you for destroying America from within. Too bad you can't be arrested for treason.You hate your country so much.
BTW, better a Canadian socialist than live like what a growing number of Americans have to live under with less and less quality of life. I take socialist as a compliment. Libertopian is only in a reference to your delusional views.
Finally its "eh?", not aye. But than again you are retarded.
Score: 0
|There is no "poverty line" in Canada. Where one could say, "$24000 for a family of 5" here in the us is "poverty", there is no such guideline in Canada. It's relative and variable.
That said, I find it highly amusing the way yuou use "Quality of Life" measurements even after several folks here have exposed how irrelevant the data used to generate that "measurement" is to the reality of life.
Name one country on Social Health that has better, more modern facilities than the US.
Name one country with Social Health that produces more usable research, innovative techniques and groundbreaking procedures than the US.
That's just the Health System. Poverty levels between countries are relative, I won't even get into that other than to say poverty in Canada does not in any way equal poverty in the US. They are both measured completely differently.
Not that your "measurement" would ever take such a thing into account...
Score: 0
|Hey...
If you guys want, then exchange phone numbers and pick a place to meet and fight it out there...
Some of us might get tired of hearing your bullsh1t!!!
Score: 0
|For someone so tired or reading it, have you ever considered not reading it? Or do sophisticated folk like yourself simply lack such self control?
Another whiny victim... what a dink
;-)
Score: 0
|They can't even get their train schedules that run between provinces coordinated!
And he hasn't a clue regarding the hordes of folks crossing the border to actually be seen by a doctor, let alone actually receive critical care treatment in a timely manner.
All this guy has is a few phrases about which he does't even know the meaning.
Hell, he thinks Bush is a libertarian!
And the Pope is Amish.
He's clueless. But being such a wanker, he is so easy to screw with and to punch his buttons! After all, he only has one line of reply and his only labels are libertopian and Reaganomics. And he actually thinks that they bother someone. Its so easy to mess with someone who thinks that success in life is defined as a computer monitor and an iPod! Does that give you an idea of how he defines quality of life?
...And not even a computer monitor, but a TV that is being used as a monitor! Status? How about stupidity. The poor guy doesn't even have the wherewithall to use a TV tuner computer card and at least get built in DVR capabilities! LOL!
With such low standards of success and such a limited world view, how much do you want to bet this guy is still peddling about on a skateboard and lives at home with his mom?
Score: 0
|Hey....
Go Fuk Yourself!!!
Score: 0
|You really are a douche.
Score: 0
|Hey, go read something else?
Genius...
Score: 0
|My god... You pick the US health care system trying to make a point? In many places it's barely above 3rd world levels. And the reason you are not exposed to foreign health care inventions and their benefits is that the US health care lobby is one of the most protected on earth, making it virtually impossible to import anything unless you 'partner' with a strong US based affiliate.
Score: 0
|Not that he needs defending, but...
In many places??? Like where? Name one place that doesn't have a decent hospital within Medivac distance? I'm giving you an opportunity to do something here you chose not to do originally...back it up.
Please...
Foreign health care inventions? Are you kidding me? You aren't referring to that "holistic" crap, are you? If it's useful and practical, we'll have it soon enough. He never said we were the *only* one's making breakthroughs...just the most.
...and Heaven forbid we require FDA approval before medicine can be imported into the US. Why wouldn't we want lead in our Antacid?
*laughing*
Weak, man....weak. ;)
Score: 0
|Hey...
You also can Go Fuk Yourself!!!
Score: 0
|Careful,
Your stupid is showing...
Score: 0
|Go Fuk Yourself!!!
Score: 0
|Well, there it is, in all it's splendor.
So, are you retarded, suffering from some heretofore unknown form of "writer's tourettes" syndrome...
...or are you just plain *that* incredibly stupid?
One wonders how long the dolt will keep this up...
Score: 0
|Maybe your the one keeping it up....
My initial comment was to simply state that maybe some of us might get tired of hearing you guys argue back and forth, and you think you just have to put your two cents in regarding my statement instead of just shutting the fuk up!!!....
You will not win... I will have the last word.
So once again....
Go Fuk Yourself!!!!
ASSS-HOLE!!!!
Score: 0
|some of us might get tired of hearing you
I don't think that has ever been more true...
If you don't like people arguing their points of view, get off the internet or get used to disappointment, genius.
Score: 0
|Fuk Off!!!!
You argue points that have nothing to do with whatever item it was that was originally being discussed...
I will continue to be a thorn in your side until you die from infection!!!
Score: 0
|You mean you'll continue making a complete a** out of your self because people were discussing something other than what *you* wanted them to?
...on a public forum, no less?
How mature of you.
Well, I wanted a new puppy for Christmas...I guess you'll have to do.
Now, be a good little doggie and jump for me.
Score: 0
|we can pick a place to meet so I can just knock the sh1t out of you and get it over with...
Score: 0
|Hopefully this reduces our spam too.
Score: 0
|Most comes from the US, so that's unlikely.
Score: 0
|Most may try to sell products to people in the US, but I have found that the servers used are mainly in China, South Korea, and Brazil.
I have seen a huge drop in spam recently, but I have noticed this before near holidays.
Score: 0
|The real origins are a fuzzy thing, but botnets are the real problem. Most infected computers are in the US, Russia, and China. Go figure. Here's a good reference for stats:
http://www.spamhaus.org/statistics/spammers.lasso
Score: 0
|If some sort of alien life was to give the earth an enema, it would stick the hose in the U.S!
Score: 0
|We'd need to cut off China, Russia and North America for that to happen.
Score: 0
|The U.S. could use the enema to purge all of the illegals. The exit end of the tube is in Canada.
Score: 0
|Damn, that is a really low level comment on your part, virus. From a cable that snapped for, as of now, unknown reasons, to respect that has snapped, for known reasons.
Oh, by the way, I'm Canadian, and I would never have said such a thing about the United States, even if I have total disrespect for the now president of that country.
Now back to the topic. I saw some years ago a documentary about undersea cables and how they repair them. If memory serves me well, it was a cable that had no fiber optics it it. I hope that they show us how they repaired this one. Should make for something fascinating to see on TV, for once.
And merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy new year to Beta News and all of you people.
Score: 0
|Thanks for your civility, Hall9000, and for your holiday wishes. The same to you and yours and to all people of good will and reasonable mien on the boards.
Score: 0
|Angela:
Good article, sorry you had the joy of reading the "Children's corner" here. I work as a AB Seaman aboard ship, so the possibility of a ship's anchor dragging, or net gear hanging, are pretty substantial. If there was a good storm working the area, the chances of the "armor" covering the cable being ground away is also quite possible. either way it would be interesting to see how quickly they can repair it- Again, thanks for the good article. JC
Score: 0
|