Slowness/outage

[lukpac]

Not my fault...

Cut fiber line slows Internet traffic

A crew digging in an Interstate 94 construction corridor in the Chicago area cut a fiber line this morning, causing major Internet service delays for customers of numerous companies.

TDS spokeswoman Deanne Boegli said the line was cut about 7:15 a.m., and the goal was to have the line fixed and service back to normal today.

"Repair crews had trouble getting to the site because of traffic delays," Boegli said.

The crew cut a major fiber "pipe" that included fiber lines for many companies, causing delays nationally, she said.

"Many of us use Chicago as our main hub," Boegli said.

Traffic was rerouted on other lines to prevent a total outage, she said.

TDS was asking customers not to call about the outage.

"We can't even update our own Web site to put up a message," Boegli said.

[lukpac]

Oops...

http://www.biztimes.com/daily/2008/5/21 ... out-region

Thousands of Wisconsin businesses and residences were left without high-speed Internet service today after a road construction crew ruptured a major fiber optic line connecting the Milwaukee region to Chicago.

The line was accidentally cut by a crew working along Interstate 94 in northern Illinois this morning.

The cut line disrupted service for TDS Metrocom and TDS Telecom commercial and residential customers throughout the Midwest, according to DeAnne Boegli, manager of public relations for the companies.

TDS and several other Internet service providers (ISPs) rent bandwidth on the line that was ruptured, Boegli said.
Sources said service to subscribers of MSN's Hotmail in the Milwaukee area also was disrupted today.

"We have crews on site. We have to replace a span of 2,500 feet fiber optic line along Interstate 94," Boegli said. "We lease the bandwidth that goes through there from other vendors. That whole fiber optic tube was crushed by the digger. Because it's glass, it sort of shatters when it gets cut, not like copper (wire)."

TDS and other ISPs were forced to reroute their customers' Internet traffic around Chicago on lines with smaller bandwidth, causing considerable delays in service.