This was rumored to be a backhoe fade but the advisory refers only to
IP services and there was nothing in the popular press about any major
phone outage, so I have my suspicions. Usually if there's a fiber cut
they say so. About this time is when all of the major backbones began
flooding the net with their notices of panic upgrades.
I have unconfirmed reports from last night that Qwest had major phone
and IP outages in California last night. Secondhand report from their
voice support folks as 'systemwide within california'. A physical
failure was indicated but not described.
I wasn't able to find a report on the web at the time, though.
I haven't gone back today and looked in more detail.
Phantom of the Backhoe?
-george william herbert
gherbert@retro.com