BT strike looms

[NickFitz]

I heard chat that this might cause problems with internet, might just be saber rattling though.

Virgin Media, the way forward.

Cable to the door, not a BT line rental in sight.

However, if BT's Colossus backbone goes down it would have a serious knock-on effect on the entire UK network as well as taking out a number of international links.

[Sysman]

However, if BT's Colossus backbone goes down it would have a serious knock-on effect on the entire UK network as well as taking out a number of international links.

I remember doing some traces to the US for some reason or other. From here in Europe about half the traces went through the UK, the rest direct from Amsterdam (?) to the US. Yep, it could have serious knock-on effects.

[NickFitz]

I remember doing some traces to the US for some reason or other. From here in Europe about half the traces went through the UK, the rest direct from Amsterdam (?) to the US. Yep, it could have serious knock-on effects.

Indeed.

[Scrag Meister]

Indeed.

Sounds like someone ought to get some resilience in the suppliers of the internet backbone. Single point of failure and all that.

[PRC1964]

Virgin Media, the way forward.

Cable to the door, not a BT line rental in sight.

Let me know if you need my details for a referral discount. :-)

I would happily use it but I live on a private road which was not dug up for cable.

[NickFitz]

Sounds like someone ought to get some resilience in the suppliers of the internet backbone. Single point of failure and all that.

There are a good few other networks in and out of (and within) the UK, but they would come under increased load if BT's routes were down, which would snarl things up a bit. Also, UK ISPs might not have the necessary peering arrangements to be able to switch traffic to other networks in a hurry.

[Sysman]

There are a good few other networks in and out of (and within) the UK, but they would come under increased load if BT's routes were down, which would snarl things up a bit. Also, UK ISPs might not have the necessary peering arrangements to be able to switch traffic to other networks in a hurry.

A couple of war stories there.

1) the customer who deliberately signed up with two separate backbone providers only to find that come the crunch the providers had merged, rationalised their resources, and the customer actually had a single point of failure.

2) the customer who was doing time critical comms suddenly noticed a significant increase in round trip times. Oops a storm had brought down a bridge. They managed to survive this, but it had pushed the distance between data centres above the manufacturer's recommended (and officially supported) limit.