Internet Slow Down in Philippines Caused by Undersea Cable Fault

I swear this current internet slow down is starting to make my head ache like ****. Tsk. The worse part is that, for some reason, *this* problem always comes with impeccable timing -- when I have a lot of online deliverables in my hands. Grr..

I don't know if knowing the cause will make the situation easier to accept (at least for me) -- but for what it's worth, here it goes:

Quoting Computerworld:

At about 10:50 a.m. on Wednesday, local time, an alarm signaled a cable fault on Segment 7 of APCN2, which connects Hong Kong and Shantou, China. The disruption caused a temporary loss of service on the undersea link but all customers that use the cable were soon shifted to capacity on other cables, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The APCN2 cable is owned by a consortium of 26 telecom operators from 14 different countries. The cable links Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Japan.

The exact cause of the APCN2 fault was not immediately known. The alarm indicated the disruption was caused by a "single point of failure," which suggests a variety of possibilities, including a technical failure or a cable cut, the source said.

No word on the exact cause of the fault yet - but at least, we now know the reason behind the slowdown. Here's to hoping that the people working on the fault get to fix it real soon.

Read full ComputerWorld article HERE.