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Rats 'Cripple' NZ Web Access
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."
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).
Of course they're suing the power company. Lawyers won't sue the rats because of professional courtesy.
So Telecom is seeking compenstaion for fixing this. Fair enough you might say? The irony here is that Telecom has publicly stated they will not be paying *other* businesses for their losses due to the network going down.
To put this in perspective, much of the countrys EFTPOS system went down. Much of the countrys mobile network went down. Much of the countrys DSL network went down. That means, NO electronic sales transactions, NO websites, NO email, NO mobile calls. LOTS of lost productivity and sales here.
Even the friggin stock exchange went down - the 2nd time in a few weeks due to a Telecom fault! No wonder they don't want to compensate people - even Telecom doesn't have enough money for this.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
Flamebait? C'mon! Sheep outnumber humans in New Zealand 11:1! If they ever rose up, they'd have a real problem on their hands.
I've been to New Zealand. It's a beautiful country. The Southern Alps, the hot springs, the Maori culture. Seriously, I recommend everyone visits. Just keep an eye on the sheep, though, that's all I'm saying.
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.
I keep telling this to my fiance. I need at least four prostitutes to back her up. I don't know what bothers her more, the idea of being 'backed up' or being 'redundant'.
I lost a day's work, but they still charged me for my DSL even though I couldn't use it - you figure out who's being ripped off here!