Slashdot Mirror


Skype Outage Hits Users Worldwide

Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that millions of Skype phone users worldwide couldn't make calls or were dropped in mid-conversation because of a network connection failure that began about 9 AM Wednesday PST. 'For a communications system this large to go down, it's almost unheard of,' says Charles S. Golvin, a Forrester Research analyst. 'Usually when phone lines are disrupted, the blackout is confined to a specific geographical area. This is worldwide.' In theory, Skype, which is based on peer-to-peer networking technology, shouldn't see an outage, but that is not really the case — the company has a massive infrastructure that it uses for purposes such as authentication and linking to the traditional phone networks. 'The outage comes at a time when Skype is starting to ask larger corporations for their business,' writes Om Malik. 'If I am a big business, I would be extremely cautious about adopting Skype for business, especially in the light of this current outage.'"

4 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. How to find the who is responsible for this. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just find the Verizon/ATT/Sprint/ executive with a smug face and a sheepish grin. He did it.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  2. Oh the irony... by wandazulu · · Score: 4, Funny

    After convincing my boss and *his* boss about the benefits of Skype, yesterday was the day I was going to demo it to show how it works, benefits, video, etc.

    Suffice to say, the demo did not go well.

  3. Tinfoil hat : WikiLeaks by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 1, Funny

    Skype video conference is Julian Assange's preferred interview medium ; now he's under house arrest, anyone wanting to interview him will have to call using the traditional phone network or use an alternate videoconference system. I think some of the news organizations were sending outside broadcast trucks to interview him.

    Yes, this is on the left field of paranoid. But someone had to say it :-)

  4. Re:gee.. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oregon?

    Basil?

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.