Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Rats 'Cripple' NZ Web Access

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the network-plagues dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Drat! It was the rat! Telephone, mobile and Internet access in New Zealand was disrupted over four hours after rats were found gnawing through cables. More than 100,000 customers were affected and even the country's stock exchange came to a standstill. Powerless to take action against the rats, Telecom New Zealand is seeking compensation from the electricity company it says is responsible for knocking out another pipeline which eliminated backup services. Nothing like a backup plan."

6 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. Rats by Al+Mutasim · · Score: 5, Informative

    This must hit a special nerve with New Zealanders, who are trying to eradicate rats wherever possible. There are three types of wild rats in New Zealand, and none of them really belong there: black rats were introduced in the 1860's, brown rats were introduced on Captain Cook's ship in 1760's, and Kiore rats were introduced by Maori settlers in the 960's (plus or minus).

    1. Re:Rats by mantidae · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, its not unusual for kiwis who know their history, to know their rat history too.

      You see, there have been a few waves of colonisation , including the waves of the first polynesian voyagers.

      Rat remains have helped historians date those waves of settlement.

      NZ history book occaisonaly hit the bestseller lists here in Aotearoa (Moari name for NZ), and any discussion of dating early polynesian settlement is incomplete without discussion about rats.

  2. Re:Liability by RedWizzard · · Score: 4, Informative
    Surely the electricity company put clauses in the contract excluding them from liability for failures and damages caused by things outside of their control?
    The power company cut a cable while digging a hole. How is that outside their control?
  3. Re:Liability by Bob+The+Lizard · · Score: 3, Informative

    According to the news monday night (this was 5 days ago) they put a post holer through a trunk cable...

    (yes it sucked no highspeed for 4 hrs in the middle of a work day...)

    G/

    --
    My Paintball Pics
  4. State of NZ broadband by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/NL/FC31E734EFD D0739CC2570290016D8F1

    Telecom is an American owned company.

    The local loop they use to fleece NZ residents who use their sub-standard "broadband" (Telecom once tried to market 128k plans as broadband..) is in fact publically owned. As the NZ Commerce Commision has no balls Telecom remains in control of this and thus continue to be a greedy monopoly.

    The above article should remove any doubt of this.

  5. Re:Nothing but sympathy by taniwha · · Score: 4, Informative

    I call bullshit, I'm weeping croc tears here - it's now happened twice now in the past 6 months for me (in Dunedin), previous one was a backhoe someone put thru the fiber north of here, you may have redundancy where you live but Telecom here is always one accident away from me not being able work at any time. Given the way they are making money hand over fist from their monopoly you'd think they'd spend some money on infrastructure (I can call Auckland from my US Vonage account for 1/3 what it costs to use my telecom phone - the town is plastered with fliers for 1c/min calls to China, why not Auckland?)