Vodafone shifts underwater traffic to Go

M Baldacchino

Feb 4th 2009, 07:49

Wednesday morning..internet services slightly improved but still not what they're meant to be. Usual story in Malta unfortunately.

Christian Micallef

Feb 4th 2009, 00:49

This is not fair on Melita customers as we are also being affected by this problem and do not know when it will all be solved. Melita said this:

"Following the recent damage in submarine fibre-optic cables linking Malta to Sicily, Vodafone Malta has commenced inspections and technical repairs on its submarine fibre-optic cable. Until Melita commissions its own submarine cable later on this year, Melita services its bandwidth requirements from Vodafone and therefore, the repairs on Vodafone's cable may result in service disruptions to Melita's internet customers.

Melita would like to apologise for any inconvenience due to Vodafone's technical repairs and assures its clients that every effort is being made to reduce possible inconvenience. However, Melita has no control over these repair works and consequently, is not in a position to provide an exact end date for the repair process; as this depends exclusively on the duration of remedial works by Vodafone.

Melita will continue to provide status updates to its customers further to information received from Vodafone."

Luke Buttigieg

Feb 4th 2009, 00:38

My melita connection is terribly slow! What the hell?!

I. Zmirli

Feb 3rd 2009, 21:30

Right now I'm really hoping the Wednesday prediction is right. I was stupid enough to reinstall vista last Sunday and it's still trying to download Service Pack 1 at a rate of 20kbps or so...

Jay Cliff

Feb 3rd 2009, 21:13

"Internet and mobile phone service providers offering international connectivity are now obliged to have a back-up plan in case of a fault developing in submarine cables linking Malta to the continent"

Ha ha ha! WHAT a backup plan! Let's hope this is not a demonstration of what can be expected when there is another true cable failure!

Malta seems to be connected to the rest of he world by a VERY soggy piece of string.

Silvio Abela

Feb 3rd 2009, 21:05

I finally managed to open this website! Imagine. That is the treatment Melita gave us, their loyal(!), customers.
I called Vodafone this morning and I was assured that the works on the cable WILL not, or should not, effect Melita customers.
I then called Melita and after 5 minutes waiting, a customer service representative informed me that it was all Vodafone's fault. The person even went on to say that since Vodafone is their competitor, they are bound to tell me that it was not their (Vodafone's) fault.
What I know is that since yesterday morning, accessing anything on the Internet is a sad reminder of the dial-up days of 10 years ago.
I am producing some download speed test results from: Melita, Go, Vodafone and Speedtest.net(all 9pm). My connection is the medium or a maximum of 2048kbps
Melita (my ISP):889kbps, Go:356kbps, Vodafone:2152kbps!!!!!, Speedtest.net:90kbps(tested with Reggio Calabria). The obvious is that the connection to Vodafone's server is optimal while to my own ISP it is abyssmal. We should get a refund for "out-of-service" days. That would definitely be Professional conduct!
Melita-Vodafone: WHO WILL WE BELIEVE??? Is this some petty feud to make Melita look bad on their service mobile launch?

L Formosa

Feb 3rd 2009, 18:54

Should ISP's give preference to their clients first? Why am I paying Melita the usual sum if I am not getting the usual service (althogh even the usual service is baddd)?

P. Sammut

Feb 3rd 2009, 16:32

I agree with you guys. And nowhere does it say in the numreous terms & conditions that if a competitor has problems, our service will have problems! In terms of competitveness, this really looks stupid & unprofessional by the ISPs

Paul Barrett

Feb 3rd 2009, 11:55

I agree with Joseph Casha - a warning should have been given.
I have spoken to my ISP provider this morning and they have said that it is due to maintenance on the overseas cable and that things should be back to normal tomorrow (Wed) morning.
Hopefully they have given me the right information as currently it is virtually impossible to get security updates or even browse the international sites.

Joseph Casha

Feb 3rd 2009, 09:58

What everyone failed to mention is that even melita customers are being affected by this maintenance. The 'broadband' service has been going at a snail pace since yesterday morning and when you call their customer service you are immediatly directed to an automated machine stating that the intermittent service is due to vodafone's maintenance. I personally think that clients should be warned beforehand in circumstances such as these.