http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Oct/26/ln/ln01a.html
A Verizon telephone worker accidentally cut a fiber cable in Kalihi
yesterday, setting off a chain reaction that resulted in the most
widespread phone failure in the Islands in recent years.
Widespread chaos ensued:
"The Maui Visitors Bureau Visitor Information Center the agency's tourist
call center on Moloka'i was crippled for 27 minutes." 
andy
Widespread chaos ensued:
"The Maui Visitors Bureau Visitor Information Center the agency's
tourist
call center on Moloka'i was crippled for 27 minutes." 
<<
I -wish- that was the extent of the cut.<smile>
For 6 hours, I was unable to reach any exchange in the state or the
mainland with my Verizon landline. My Sprint PCS phone could reach Oahu
and the mainland, but all Verizon's Maui numbers resulted in fast busy.
With PCS I could get messages to Nextel customers here on Maui, but they
couldn't retrieve them.
Can someone venture a guess as to what would cause Verizon's Maui
intra-island system to collapse from a fiber cut 100 miles away on
another Island?
Oh btw, I wasn't using it during the entire outage, but my ADSL line
worked fine for the 3 hours that I did use it.
--Michael
>
> Accidental cable slice silences 200,000 phones | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper
>
> A Verizon telephone worker accidentally cut a fiber cable in Kalihi
> yesterday, setting off a chain reaction that resulted in the most
> widespread phone failure in the Islands in recent years.Widespread chaos ensued:
"The Maui Visitors Bureau Visitor Information Center the agency's
tourist
The question is, did this stop DI from pinging people from their
on-island facilities, and if so, should we ship all our knives
to Verizon -- we could collect them in airport lobbies, like
they collect foreign change in Europe...
"The Maui Visitors Bureau Visitor Information Center the agency's
tourist
call center on Moloka'i was crippled for 27 minutes."I -wish- that was the extent of the cut.<smile>
According to published reports, it disrupted approximately one-third
of the telephone service in the State of Hawaii up to seven hours. State
officials (Governor, Public utilities commission, legislature, etc) will
hold the normal hearings and investigations of Verizon.
Can someone venture a guess as to what would cause Verizon's Maui
intra-island system to collapse from a fiber cut 100 miles away on
another Island?
My guess, lack of SS7 diversity. Although it receives limited public
discussion, the public telephone network has significant risks in
comparison to the Internet. Because of the public discussion, and
customer demand, ISPs have been forced to invest a lot of money in
network backups and now offer SLA's significantly better than any
telephone company offers. On the other hand the telephone network
has been undergoing a lot of "value engineering" for the last decade,
reducing their network backups.
I wonder if we have reached the cross-over point, and the Internet is
now effectively more reliable than the public telephone network.
Oh btw, I wasn't using it during the entire outage, but my ADSL line
worked fine for the 3 hours that I did use it.
This would indicate a problem in the control systems of the PSTN, since
communications which didn't use that control system were unaffected.
FYI, at about the time of the break, I was engaged in a Web-based meeting that included the Maui Supercomputer Center. We were using a phone bridge in San Jose, CA. The phone conversation persisted, but Maui's Internet connection dropped.
--Steve
FYI, at about the time of the break, I was engaged in a Web-based
meeting that included the Maui Supercomputer Center. We were using a
phone bridge in San Jose, CA. The phone conversation persisted, but
Maui's Internet connection dropped.
I do believe that if STP/SS7(?) trunks are dropped, calls in progress are
not interrupted. Just my observation from when we did a number change and
all that SS7 magic made our numbers move to a new provider. The cut was
made, but all existing calls on our old dial equipment chugged merrily
along...
Charles
I don't know what type of network links the Maui Supercomputer Center
has. Whether it was a problem with a commercial Internet provider or
something specific to the Maui spercomputer center.
Odd, considering:
4 atm-from-manoa.uhnet.net (128.171.64.217) [AS1263] 3 ms 3 ms 3 ms
5 atm-dren-maui-uhm.uhnet.net (205.166.205.237) [AS5113] 10 ms 9 ms 8 ms
6 mhpcc-external-peer-oc3a.mhpcc.edu (164.122.129.8) [AS3381] 8 ms 8 ms 9 ms
7 extreme-staff-gige-core.mhpcc.edu (164.122.131.6) [AS3381] 8 ms 10 ms 9 ms
We were not affected.
FYI, at about the time of the break, I was engaged in a Web-based
meeting that included the Maui Supercomputer Center. We were using a
phone bridge in San Jose, CA. The phone conversation persisted, but
Maui's Internet connection dropped.I do believe that if STP/SS7(?) trunks are dropped, calls in progress are
not interrupted. Just my observation from when we did a number change and
all that SS7 magic made our numbers move to a new provider. The cut was
made, but all existing calls on our old dial equipment chugged merrily
along...
Charles,
You are absolutely correct on that score: