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back to article Sky 'fesses up to broken fibre cables as cause of outage woes

Sky has 'fessed up to broken fibre cables as being the cause of an outage in the north west, which has knocked a number of broadband and phone customers offline since Monday. The fault began yesterday evening, with customers taking to Twitter to complain. @SkyHelpTeam looks like a lot have lost service due to outage. Hope sky …

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  1. Kubla Cant

    One of the main features of the original Arpanet project was to create a network that would be resilient to damage. At the time they were thinking in terms of nuclear war. Now it seems that Arpanet's successor gets stuffed by a bit of broken fibre. Good to see evidence of progress.

    8 0 Reply
    1. Proud Father
      Reply Icon

      @Kubla Cant

      It would seem greed and the pursuit of profits are far more effective at breaking connectivity than a nuclear blast.

      7 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @Kubla Cant

        You are welcome to set up an ISP with redundant connectivity if you like. Nobody will buy it because it will cost an absolute fortune.

        6 6 Reply
        1. AlbertH
          Reply Icon

          Re: @Kubla Cant

          Every competent IP network has redundant connectivity. That's one of the fundamental definitions of IP. The only time that there isn't redundant connectivity is to individual terminating pieces of hardware hung from the network - unless the network is done on the cheap, and the redundant loops aren't closed (as appears to be the case with Sky, Virgin, Talk Talk etc....).

          2 3 Reply
          1. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @Kubla Cant

            Consumers buy cheapest Internet, not most competent Internet. The market punishes any company that doesn't run their network at lowest cost.

            0 0 Reply
    2. NoneSuch Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Big Brother

      No worries

      Copies of any missed emails lost during the outage can be recovered by writing:

      cable.intercepts@gchq.co.uk

      11 1 Reply
    3. Cynic_999
      Reply Icon

      "

      One of the main features of the original Arpanet project was to create a network that would be resilient to damage.

      "

      Sure, for less than 10000 users running at 9600Bd.

      However my Internet *is* resilient to damage - if my main broadband goes titsup I can use dialup (if the POTS is still OK) or I can turn my mobile phone into a WiFi hotspot and route via the cellphone data network. I could have an arrangement with neighbours who use a different broadband provider that we can connect to each other's wifi in the event one of the providers goes down. You could even install a satellite link for backup, albeit slow and expensive.

      1 0 Reply
  2. Chemist

    "Northern England suffering broadband outage since Monday"

    I doubt if the areas listed constitute even 1% of "Northern England"

    9 0 Reply
    1. Rob Daglish
      Reply Icon

      I'd argue they aren't even "Northern England". I'm about three hours north from them on the motorway, and I'm still in England...

      5 0 Reply
      1. AlbertH
        Reply Icon

        It doesn't matter - it's only the North. Unless it's South of Watford, it doesn't count.

        3 0 Reply
      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        You must be one of the few who keep to the speed limit north of Manchester.

        1 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So did some retard copper thief go away empty handed ?

    3 0 Reply
  4. Pen-y-gors

    "Contact me by carrier pigeon"

    Am I the only one who is curious that someone TWEETED the above?

    7 0 Reply
    1. DavCrav
      Reply Icon

      Re: "Contact me by carrier pigeon"

      "Am I the only one who is curious that someone TWEETED the above?"

      We've got those fancy mobile phone things up north nowadays. They're rait good.

      7 1 Reply
  5. hplasm
    Terminator

    Skynet is broken!

    Regards, John Connor.

    0 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tie t'data ter whippet and send it up street wi cobbles on

    We ant got no use for this new fangled fast t'internet.

    2 1 Reply
    1. Valeyard
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      Re: Tie t'data ter whippet and send it up street wi cobbles on

      wrong north, london-boy

      6 1 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Tie t'data ter whippet and send it up street wi cobbles on

      I've never understood why northern is written like :

      Tie t'data ter whippet and send it up street wi cobbles on

      A more accurate interpretation would be:

      Tie't data te't whippet an' send it up't street wi cobbles on.

      The "t" replaces 'the' and is pronounced as though it is part of the previous word, eg: I'm going to't pub, pronounced "I'm going tert pub".

      ( Really pedantic, but this has annoyed me since I saw a Michael Macintyre northerner sketch )

      6 0 Reply
      1. dotdavid
        Reply Icon

        Re: Tie t'data ter whippet and send it up street wi cobbles on

        "this has annoyed me since I saw a Michael Macintyre northerner sketch"

        His Southerner impression is pretty poor too.

        5 0 Reply
      2. Yugguy
        Reply Icon

        Re: Tie t'data ter whippet and send it up street wi cobbles on

        Which is why T'Internet as popularised by Peter Kay is not proper northern.

        It's not "Are you on t'internet?", it's "Are you ont' Internet?"

        2 0 Reply
    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Tie t'data ter whippet and send it up street wi cobbles on

      No whippets. That part of the country is more the horsey set.

      2 0 Reply
  7. WonkoTheSane

    Sky now reporting all is well once more

    " Problems with Sky Broadband and Talk services in Cheshire | 29 September 2015

    If you live in the following areas of Cheshire and you have Sky Broadband, Sky Talk or Sky Fibre Broadband in your home, we know you've been having problems getting online and with making calls since yesterday evening.

    Culcheth, Frodsham, Hale, Helsby, Irlam, Manley, Padgate, Penketh, Runcorn, Warrington, Westwood and Widnes.

    Latest news: we're pleased to report the problem has now been resolved. Broadband services in the above areas are now up and running again.

    We're sorry for any inconvenience caused.

    Last updated: 12.29pm "

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sky now reporting all is well once more

      Runcorn - Two pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps country. Nice.

      Perhaps they thought the fibre was a straw for drinking vodka through...

      0 0 Reply
  8. Commswonk

    How long will it be

    before the blame is laid at BT's door because Openreach isn't a separate company?

    3 0 Reply
  9. bigtimehustler

    Sky had internet connections dropping off and back on all evening in central Birmingham too. So they had problems far further south, probably them trying to implement mitigation solutions I guess...

    0 0 Reply
  10. Lars Silver badge
    Happy

    A problem

    Nice spin, either it works or it does not. Where I live, if there is a "problem" it's after 24.00 on weekends, and if you try to phone them you will never get through as everybody else is phoning too, and once there was this nice lady who advised me to use the internet to get more information about their problem. I am not all that pissed off with the problem except that I am pissed off with the problem.

    0 0 Reply
  11. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Verizon Wireless' got a redundant network

    Verizon Wireless' got a redundant network. As they were installing 4G LTE and the required additional backhaul to each site, they also rolled out quite a bit of site-to-site microwave backhaul. In some cases, it's used to get backhaul to sites where they simply couldn't get decent backhaul to it otherwise. I remember reading a few years ago they got it set up to work as a fallback as well, with automated failover. Now when a fiber cut knocks out 1/4 of a state or whatever, the affected area can usually be fed via the microwave links from areas outside the affected area, keeping voice and (most likely slower than usual) data going.

    Of course that's wireless, not DSL. Reading about Sky Broadband, it's not really clear if (to get out of the area) it'd run over some Sky-owned fiber or BT or what.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Verizon Wireless' got a redundant network

      Only Sky will know that. There are at least a dozen national fibre networks. Some companies own the kit in the ground, other companies lease dark fibre and put their own services on top, some are simple resellers. It's also possible to take out very long term leases on kit belonging to other people - IRUs. For only Sky to be affected suggests either Sky owned infrastructure or Sky's NTE on a service they're leasing from someone else.

      1 0 Reply
  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sky's network is heavily reliant on their fibre network running under canal towpaths. It's not uncommon for it to get cut by a boater whacking a super mooring pin in a little further from the edge of the bank than normal.

    0 0 Reply
  13. Chris Evans

    Apology fail.

    We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.

    should be:

    We are sorry for THE inconvenience this has caused.

    1 0 Reply
  14. Grandad

    It's probably all caused by the massive civil engineering works in and around Runcorn and Widnes due to the construction of the new Runcorn-Widnes crossing over the Mersey otherwise known as the Merseyside Gateway!! They would never notice a few cables being dug up.

    0 0 Reply

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