Reply to: BT strike looms

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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 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.

[Jeebo72]

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. :-)

Too right. Just hope it doesn't go wrong tho!

[Scrag Meister]

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. :-)

[Sysman]

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

Like I said, not good for the economy. A BT strike could have far worse consequences than your bins not getting emptied.

[minestrone]

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

[DiscoStu]

But haven't a load of things like rubbish collection been farmed out to private companies?

Oh look. Public sector goes on strike, nobody notices inconvenienced, people notice this and wonder what the public sector actually does

Public sector strikes are fine by me, they can take as much unpaid time off as they like

[Clippy]

But haven't a load of things like rubbish collection been farmed out to private companies?

Oh look. Public sector goes on strike, nobody notices inconvenienced, people notice this and wonder what the public sector actually does

The fkrs still have a public sector mentality.

[Sysman]

Just wait until the public sector morons go out.

Rubbish in the streets, dead unburied.

It'll be like 1979 again.

Or deja vu.

But haven't a load of things like rubbish collection been farmed out to private companies?

Oh look. Public sector goes on strike, nobody notices inconvenienced, people notice this and wonder what the public sector actually does

[Platypus]

I've noticed very few competent BT engineers and very few folks in UK call centres.

Who are these people that the CWU represents? And will anyone notice if they go on strike?