Submarine cable fault: Engineers transferring Internet links from GO to Vodafone
GO and Vodafone engineers have been working throughout the night to transfer broadband internet services to the Vodafone undersea cable after a fault developed in GO's international gateway yesterday evening.
"Over the past night engineers have been implementing contingency measures together with Vodafone with the aim of starting to restore broadband internet services," GO said in a statement.
It warned that the fault will continue to result in "limited or restricted internet access" which is expected to improve as the day goes by.
The fault in the GO submarine cable developed at 6.30 p.m. International voice services were restored soon after using a microwave link, but internet links to overseas sites were cut for thousands of internet users.
The fault was located in the sea some 120km of cable away from Catania.
The fault was the second in four months involving this cable, but the first fault had occurred on land in Sicily.
A GO spokesman said it was not known what had caused the latest problem. The company's priority was to restore services, he said. The company was, however looking at whether some sort of seismic activity or the activities of a ship were involved.
Malta's international gateway services currently rely on undersea cables operated by GO and Vodafone. GO is currently in the process of laying a second cable, which should be operational within a few weeks. Melita has also said it plans to lay a cable to Sicily.
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Stephan Galea
Dec 22nd 2008, 12:29
Mr. Stephen Sultana :P you have any doubt about that ? How many of you had problems with internet being disconnected all the time. Surprisingly with this system we dont have a very good service but the connection holds :| I forgot when was the last time I reseted the modem (TA) since GO shifted to Vodafone. I guess its time to give other ISPs a “GO” :p.
Graham Crocker
Dec 21st 2008, 19:54
The Submarine cable fault probably occured due to seismic activity. Malta isn't the only country with this problem infact BBC highlighted the occurance and mentioned malta in an article.
Therefore it is not GO's fault, who were just 2 weeks away from having a Back up cable, but probably God's fault or what is called an Act of God such as seismic activity.
Don't ask Go for compensation, ask God.
BBC: The main damage is to the four submarine cables running across the Mediterranean and through the Suez Canal.
It is thought that 65% of traffic to India was down, while services to Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Taiwan and Pakistan have also been severely affected.
I agree with L Galea , we should have satellite ISP's
J. Camilleri
Dec 21st 2008, 15:56
@L. Attard
Although I agree that these things happen, as customers, nowadays one expects to have an uninterrupted Internet service, particularly, when this results in loss of business (money), when the service is not available.
On one hand the myriad of disclaimers and administrative charges is fairly understood as a way to ensure that the customer understands that he has to do his part (pay); on the other hand, it is up to the service provider to ensure that the advertised 99.9999% percent uptime is maintained.
In the lack of service being provided, and, once it is restored (hopefully), a refund to compensate for the lack of service is the bare minimum the service provider can do to keep their customers "happy".
S. Camilleri
Dec 21st 2008, 14:06
@Joseph Schembri
Seems you are the only complainant with basis of grey matter. Yes I would say that GO should give something at least as a measure of goodwill
francesca vincenti
Dec 21st 2008, 12:44
I expect a refund for my internet monthly subscription that was effected and compensation for the inconvenience of not being able to top up my phone remotely from overseas due to the inaccessibility of the site. No excuses. Consumers are getting irrate and have rights these days.
David Cefai
Dec 21st 2008, 12:42
To those demanding compensation: I suggest you read your agreement with your ISP and the Terms of Service you agreed to.
I am pleased that there IS a backup plan - which is being implemented. Pity that it took so long to implement. One trusts that next time ( and there will be a next time, as sure as the fact that we live in an earthquake-prone zone ) it will be easier and faster.
L.Attard
Dec 21st 2008, 10:47
I sympathize with most of these unhappy users, but asking for compensation will not improve the service. People like John.J.Mercieca are just critics without any appreciation to the hard work given by most employees when things are running smooth and even more when things fail.
I suggest that both GO and Vodafone should double their existing equipment, which requires twice the number of employees and double expenses. This would result in double the current rates for all their services to their customers. This will definitely give a more reliable service to users like J.J.Mercieca but still no full guarantees of a fail proof service. That simply does not exist in reality.
kurt crockford
Dec 20th 2008, 19:20
John J. Mercieca
"and i demand at least a free month of compensation, if necessary taken from the salaries of GO's employees. "
Mr Mercieca why take it out on employees?what did they do go and cut the cable themselves ?
i was browsing through the net (yes i am with Go and yes i can actually browse!!) and i came across this article regarding the cable problem..
http://www.labnol.org/internet/internet-disrupted-as-undersea-cables-cut-again/6146/
some of you should really read the comments and learn how to complain.. everyone has a right complain and 'demand' compensation if they think they should be awarded such but there is a way and a way.. we say we are a civilised country.. biggest joke of the year thanks to comments by Mr John J. Mercieca.. I would appreciate if you kept your comments in Maltese so that foreigners that read your comments don’t make a laughing stock of Malta.
Peter Korsten
Dec 20th 2008, 00:39
"For anybody who thinks "this only happens to Malta" and wish to blame GO to no end please read this:"
Cool, but I don't live in Egypt and quite frankly, I couldn't care less what they do with their internet.
I do live in Malta and whilst I've got connectivity back now (I'm with NextWeb, who are probably using the Vodafone link), it was gone for quite a while and whether it was a tremor, a ship's anchor, the phase of the moon or a very big fish, I don't care either.
Go should have had backup capacity, and they didn't, and had to run head over heels to Vodafone to use their line. Had they done this before, like when the link broke a couple of months ago, the impact wouldn't have been so great as it was now.
Joseph Schembri
Dec 19th 2008, 20:32
The VERY LEAST that GO can do is give 'extra' credit (internet, mobile, TV, fixed line) to their subscribers once the problem is resolved. It will cost GO nothing. I am told that subscribers cannot even access their internet banking, thus accruing charges from their banks!
John J. Mercieca
Dec 19th 2008, 20:17
For anyone thinking that GO have already begun using the Vodafone cable, think again. I have just contacted GO customer care and I was told that they are still working on it and have no time frame when they will start using it.
a mifsud
Dec 19th 2008, 20:09
For anybody who thinks "this only happens to Malta" and wish to blame GO to no end please read this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7792688.stm
Mario Gauci
Dec 19th 2008, 19:59
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!
David Schiavone
Dec 19th 2008, 19:16
@P Debono
Please don't assume or try to comment if you don't have an idea. I can assure you that yes VF-MT engineers worked round the clock with GO's engineers to restore the service. Please be careful how you roll out your comments.
Christian Vella
Dec 19th 2008, 19:07
To: lgalea
Satelite internet won't solve a thing apart it's not that fast it has rather short life span compared to a fiber optic cable. Having smaller bandwidth capacities, its not at all worth it. The new fibre optic cable by GO and Melita is enough!
lgalea
Dec 19th 2008, 17:41
Ladies and gentlemen, this shows how we are so much dependent on modern technology but are not smart enough to have direct satellite links instead of going through all sorts of cables through other countries.
If Smartcity and Malta are to be smart we should have direct satellite links.
p.s.
ever notice how much silence you can "hear" or rather feel whenever the electricity is cut off?
Mario Nicchia
Dec 19th 2008, 15:20
This is what happens when you depend on other countries. Restoration of service will take forever!
I am sorry for you maltese to understand that you are planning to import electricity too via a cable.... Good plan! Complimenti!
Maria Agius
Dec 19th 2008, 15:16
I was just wondering how come Malta, in its Energy plan is boasting that it will connect electrically to Italy via a submarine cable. We are doing all this fuss for half a day without internet, what will Malta's popluation reaction be when electricity will be affected?
Can the goverment please take note of this, and leave the generation of an essential service in the hands of the Maltese.
G. Aquilina
Dec 19th 2008, 15:01
Hey!
Did anyone link this with the rising sea level on Wednesday? The waters went back and came forward just like a mini tsunami. True they did not record seismic activity, but what if they missed it? Or there was a shift in earth plates so that the cable broke? They said it was because of the moon... Maybe there were extremely strong deep currents and it was the reason the cable broke...
Mark Anthony Sammut
Dec 19th 2008, 14:15
@P Debono
And you expect us to believe that GO and Vodafone engineers have been working throughout the night to remedy the problem!!!! Not if they were Maltese!
I assure you that Maltese engineers are as competent as any other engineer in the world, and yes, they have been working night and day to remedy the problem. And for those of you who think that the rest of the world is immune from such faults and that these only happen locally:
http://www.gulfbase.com/site/interface/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?n=52500
Cuts in two international submarine cable systems in the Mediterranean Sea this morning is affecting a number of regional and global telecom operators. UAE’s Etisalat announced that internet traffic in the UAE and International calls have been affected due to the cable breakdown.