GO submarine cable fault part of wider disruption between Italy and Egypt

s pace

Dec 21st 2008, 01:54

I all agree with you s cachia, m schembri and s camilleri. Yet we are in a democracy, and everyone has the right to complain, although sometimes one can sympathise with Churchill's (not shared) argument against democracy.

Most arguments of the type "yes we know it happened almost anywhere but we dont care", "give us the workers' salary as a compensation" and some more others, bound on the absurd, to put it mildly.

As Mr. S. Camilleri said, fortunately Vodafone's cable was not effected. But can anyone guarantee anything in reverse? I think that Vodafone, backed by a large mother company, has also only one cable, shows that these things are not done by a flick of a finger.

Lets thank the management and workers of both companies for still having connectivity under the circumstances.

sharon Cachia

Dec 20th 2008, 13:50

Well Said Maria, If you all must know from the smallest level to the higher level, everyone at go is experiencing high level of stress I think Go's managment did everything posible to minimise the situation. When you think that this was not GO fault, some of the comments written below are shameful. Be grateful that we are a little island and we can rely on some other cables ntil everything is restored instead of moaning and demand refund...... Ask Enemalta for a refund when we have a power cut from now on!!!!!

S. Camilleri

Dec 20th 2008, 10:54

@Maria
Very nicely put. It is just a series of unfortunate events and we are but a tiny part of the affected people...Oh and btw, Melita do not yet have a cable in place. Only Voda and Go do and it is a miracle that Voda's line did not cop it as well given its proximity! Somebody up there may have wanted us to browse thru' Christmas! LOL

Maria Schembri

Dec 20th 2008, 10:06

BBC is also reporting that this may be due to some seismic activity off the coast of Malta, that's why most of the Middle East has been left without connectivity as well. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7792688.stm

Maybe everyone here should calm down a bit and accept the fact that this is just an unfortunate "act of God" event and we are fortunate enough that the other cables; those of Vodafone and Melita are still up and running. It's very unfortunate for GO that this had to happen a few weeks before the new cable was up and running. I'm sure that every second that is passing they are loosing an insane amount of money from the large international business they provide services for. Let's try to be considerate, I'm sure that GO employees are experiencing a lot of stress because of this issue, so let's try and be nicer and accept the fact that some things cannot be avoided

... So enjoy a free day for once, some fresh air won't do you any harm ;)

S. Camilleri

Dec 19th 2008, 23:07

@all
Some more news from around the world
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20081219/tc_afp/europemideastasiainternettelecom
... and there just happened to be an underwater quake of mag 5.2 just north of sicily less than 24hrs earlier...Coincidence??

S. Camilleri

Dec 19th 2008, 22:45

@all
To see the effect of these cable cuts I suggest you see the impact on Asia's traffic at http://www.internettrafficreport.com/asia.htm ....

If ya all wonder whether people in India will all be changing their ISP right now..........

S. Camilleri

Dec 19th 2008, 22:41

@Igalea
If course there are cables all round the globe mon ami ... Just read anywhere and you'll quickly dispel this "why not use satellite" crap that many people bring up at times like this... Sat links are only good for small remote areas.

Sharon Cachia

Dec 19th 2008, 21:04

It's nhttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aFM6PQsd6i2Q&refer=europeot

It's notGo's fault but an international poblem... so stup moaning and blaming local company!!

Brian Doyle

Dec 19th 2008, 21:00

@Christopher Bajada
Before flaming people who are unhappy with GO's poor service perhaps you should actually try browsing MORE than a handful of international sites which are already cached at this end. Mario is indeed correct - SOME sites are painfully slow and if you run a bandwidth test you'll see that we are indeed on a cutdown bandwidth. If you are happy with this speed I suggest you opt for the smallest bandwidth package because it is DEFINITELY not at full service no matter how fast you can access your few international sites.

Christopher Bajada

Dec 19th 2008, 20:20

@Mario Gauci

Using GO's service I followed your advice to browse international sites, and the pages loaded in a couple of seconds.

You should have your computer checked by someone who has an idea of how computers work before flaming GO about poor service! If I drive on a flat tyre, I can't blame the road for the bumpy ride!

Mario Gauci

Dec 19th 2008, 19:47

No matter what the cause of the latest breakdown in service, GO are duty bound to compensate their subscribers for the inadequate service being given. Normal service is far from being returned. ~Just try browsing any international site and it is reminiscent of a dial up service. You will be lucky if the page loads in 5 minutes!

lgalea

Dec 19th 2008, 19:43

All
Thanks for info.
Are there therefore cable connections between all continents?

d.mifsud

Dec 19th 2008, 19:24

moments like these go to show how dependant we have become on the internet. SCARY!

J. Baldacchino

Dec 19th 2008, 18:42

@Tony Cassar
What are you implying?

Jean Paul Gatt

Dec 19th 2008, 18:32

@Igalea

Satellite is too expensive and it's too slow for real time links. Just to help you, when you receive TV by satellite, the model is fairly simple. One transmission, a lot of receivers. The receivers don't transmit back. Hence, the bandwidth required by each channel is relatively little. Also for data to be sent through all the required equipment to transmit it via satellite, and all the conversions required to read it back, it simple takes too much time for a large number of applications we use that require live interaction. Examples are video conferencing, and telephony.

Also it is too costly and risky to send a satellite into orbit!

Maybe once we find oil ... :)

emanuel muscat

Dec 19th 2008, 18:17

To ALL:satellite links are of very small capacity in comparison to fibre optic links:Malta is going to have 4 fibre links when the 2nd Go cable comes on stream(already laid) and when the Melita cable is also laid:it will only require bandwidth sharing between the three players to get the resiliency required .

e. darmanin

Dec 19th 2008, 18:17

It is useless to give a link today you only get:
Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage

Sandro Zahra

Dec 19th 2008, 18:09

@ lgalea
Satellite links have a considerable amount of delay which will not permit two way real time communication (eg: calls)

@David Turner
Right now, GO says that it will be ready in first quarter 2009

K. Pullicino

Dec 19th 2008, 17:42

@Igalea: Satellite links don't provide a fast transfer speed.

lgalea

Dec 19th 2008, 17:13

Why doesn't the companies invest in satellite links and use the cable only as a back-up?

C Abdilla

Dec 19th 2008, 16:47

This goes on to show that it was something beyond the control of everyone here in Malta. The real responsibility lays with this suspected ship and the lack of planning that was evident by whoever was overseeing this cable laying operation in close proximity of other existing cables.

Having said that, its important that contingency plans are brought up to scratch, especially here where each cable needs to be submerged (as opposed to mainland Europe) and that each cable is laid in a different route to minimise the risk of one incident totally disabling the economy of a country.

Tony Cassar

Dec 19th 2008, 16:26

Is it just a co-incidence that Go is right now using one of these cable-laying ships for its second data cable?

David Turner

Dec 19th 2008, 16:24

When is GO laying their new cable by ship?

S Gatt

Dec 19th 2008, 15:49

Anyone interested to read more on this may go to site http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aH.VPx226QVo&refer=europe.