Undersea Cable Break Disrupts Life In Northern Mariana Islands

An anonymous reader writes: The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands experienced a devastating undersea cable break on Wednesday, with phone, Internet, SMS, banking services, the National Weather Service office, and airliners all being affected. The US territory depends on a single undersea fiber optic connection with Guam for its connectivity to the outside world (except for a backup microwave link, which was itself damaged during a recent storm). While services are in the process of being restored, this may be a prime example of the need for reliable backup systems in our "always connected" mindset.

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[SuperKendall]

this may be a prime example of the need for reliable backup systems in our "always connected" mindset.

Or it may be a prime example how helpless many systems are with even a small break in connectivity, and point to a strong need for all systems to be built with robust (or any!) offline modes...

Airlines being affected for example is bullshit - the schedules for example are all known months ahead of time. That the systems had not cached everything needed for a few weeks at least verges on criminal. Incoming planes can carry USB sticks with updated manifests and other data...