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Massive Fiber Cut Slows Net
netpuppy writes "East coast to west coast connectivity (or the other way around) feeling slow today? Here's why. It appears that the attack of the raging backhoes has hit Ohio today, where an unnamed public utility managed to cut through 4 OC-192 circuits while working on gas lines. 4 OC-192s are roughly equivalent to 40 Gbps traffic, and trunks this size usually carry both voice and data on them. AboveNet, GTE, and Metro Fiber (now part of Worldcom) seem to be the worst hit, according to this Inter@ctive Week article. " OK, I'm not just crazy. It has been slower then molasses today.
Why is it that IP trunks seem to be backhoed at the drop of a hat, while phone lines are somehow immune? Why doesn't the phone line between Boston and San Francisco go down?
:)
answer: phone lines are not immune. they get cut all the time. however, the phone network, like the internet, has redundancy. whe na phone line gets cut calls are rerouted to other trunks, making the problem oblivious to the layman.
so, why do fiber cuts turn out so much worse? because the data network is bursting at the seams. a voice line cut can be directed to ununsed lines. a data line cannot be done in the same manner, because there are no vacant lines, or at least not as many as were lost...
why is this the case? one, because the data network is expanding faster than new fiber can be laid down. we're too big for a britches. also, the phone network, which has grown at a decidedly slower pace, has, at both the users' and phone/data companies' requests, deemed to be more important. let's face it, if a phone line went down to a company hq, they'd be lost for as long as that line was down. just now are people realizing that their data line, is now becoming more important than their voice line.
Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
Now we know that the "vehicle" in "multiple independently targeted reentry vehicle" (MIRV) is actually a backhoe, rather than a nuclear warhead. I bet the guys who designed the 'Net to be nuke-tolerant are feeling pretty damned embarrassed right about now.
Some people think the cold war was won by USA outspending USSR. But the real truth is that someone finally leaked that we were building bombs rather than just backhoes. Ivan's pants must have gotten pretty soiled at that revelation. Just think: all along, we totally misinterpreted what "We will bury you!" meant.
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Have a Sloppy day!
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I work in London (England) and earlier today a colleague told me that he had tried pinging a site in the US. He claimed that the packets were making it across the pond OK and then were being routed via Australia. We didn't believe him. Guess that I'll have to apologise tomorrow.
Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes.
She's just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings.
About 8 years ago while working in Asia in a country to be left unamed (to protect the guilty). We had, had about 20 line cuts in a two week period. All within the same five mile stretch of Highway. It was because local farmers whereout backhoeing their field dikes to prepare for the next seasons planting as well as crews from Highway construction. We kept repairing the cuts in the fiber, putting larger and larger signs and underground tapes all in the local language (none of which helped they dug where they wanted too.) One of our local co-workers came up with a solution to the problem. We place signs along the stretch in ENGLISH only. The locals, and highway crews became so sure that this was some special secret government project that over the course of the next 6 months we had only one cut in our area of responsibility. *sigh* Kinda like my physics prof who said the only thing fibre optics would be good for is "hippy" lamps and nothing more.
I'm sorry, I'm to tired to be witty at the moment so this message will have to do.
ok, I worked at an isp for a while, and here's what I saw.
Apparently, people digging tend to call blue stakes or whoever when they are digging in areas that might have natural gas lines, 'cuz they'll explode if they screw up. Fiber lines, on the other hand, pose no such problem unless you're standing in water when you hit one (there's a lot of power going through to feed all the repeaters on a long-haul circuit). So utilities and construction workers don't tend to worry about calling any utilities to find out if fiber is buried, because they really never see the effects. I believe they are legally liable, though. Anyone know if someone has ever been brought to court for cutting fiber??
good. fast. cheap. (pick any two, you can't have all three)
Good thing there wasn't anyone around there smoking a cigarette. What with all those loose bits sloshing around, the slightest spark could have set off that 'internet explosion' people keep telling me about.
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
I would say that this goes to show the utter bullshit that is the whole cyber terrorism thing. Why spend billions of dollars trying to police imaginary squads of crackers set to destroy our information infrastructure, when a couple of idiots with shovels can create major mayhem like this?
I wonder what an organized group of wire cutters who did a little bit of research on their targets could accomplish. I have a feeling it wouldn't be pretty.
I can't say I noticed anything myself (the net has been dog slow for me as long as I can remember, so), but if a small event like this can cause major problems, then the Internet is definetly closing up on critical mass....
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Well, the powering issue being talked about isn't exactly what would be called "common". Most fiber in the ground today has no current-carrying conductors. True, it has a metallic conductor or two in it, and in some cases, a metallic sheath or armour, but carries no exectricity. The metal conductor is used exclusively to locate the cable with inductive/RF location gear. When it comes to re-generation of fiber "signals", byt simple amplification, or a full teardown of the bitstream with drop/add functionality, it's usually done at a special location (in-ground vault, above ground fiber hut, whatever) with external power. That's power supplied by a power company, with backup power. Since fiber traffic routinely travels 50+km without intervention at all, it's a total waste of resources and cable to lay a power cable for equipment. Now, all said, there are exceptions where there is no power readily available, like deep-sea cables, deserts, and such where there may be a power cable present in places. But in general, not present. Now, back to a little more on topic :) As for location, depending on the area, this can be tricky business, big time. In dense metropolitan areas, there can quite literally be cables a foot or less apart "horizontally" as well as several layers deep "vertically". Location of cables isn't always as precise as it ought to be, especially when the phone companies records don't reflect actual construction oddities, like perhaps a four foot fiber "loop" at the base of a pedestal. Well, when the person locating cable gets within a couple feet of a pedestal, you'd just assume it goes right in, right? Wrong :) And another company plans to put a pedestal right next to the existing one, and, well, it's time to break out the Scotch-Lok or quick-fix fiber kit :) Granted, most cable and fiber cuts happen out of pure ignorance or stupidity. Farmer Joe is out in the field fixing a drainage tile with his tractor and doesn't give a single thought to what else may be in the ditch with his tile. Where did those kits go again? :) And as a final note on the buried cable thing, nowadays, it's becoming common, almost required, practice to bury a brightly colored plastic ribbon above the cable being installed. Usually yellow or orange, it's really easy to see against black dirt, and would hopefully be seen before the contractor hits the cable itself. Doesn't do much good in the case of boring or knifing cable in though. All of this is just general information. The cut out east could have been done in one of a dozen or more other common contractor cable goofs that I won't even try to speculate on. Either way, it boils down to this - contractor started digging without requesting a locate, or if the cable was properly located, and the contractor either mis-read the location markings, or ignored them, that contractor had better hope he has a good insurance company. If the cable was not located at all, and a locate request was made and recorded in a timely manner, usually 24 to 48 hours before digging, well it's the telco's tough luck. You know, it's a small wonder that things work as well as they do considering the unimaginable number of perils out there, backhoe's included :) Sorry this is so long! FBG the AC
From Wired 4.12 ... article called Mother Earth Mother Board ... url at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass.ht ml
The signal coming down the FLAG cable passes through the doped fiber and causes it to lase, i.e., the excited electrons drop back down to a lower energy level, emitting light that is coherent with the incoming signal - which is to say that it is an exact copy of the incoming signal, except more powerful.
The amplifiers need power - up to 10,000 volts DC, at 0.9 amperes. Since public 10,000-volt outlets are few and far between on the bottom of the ocean, this power must be delivered down the same cable that carries the fibers. The cable, therefore, consists of an inner core of four optical fibers, coated with plastic jackets of different colors so that the people at opposite ends can tell which is which, plus a thin copper wire that is used for test purposes. The total thickness of these elements taken together is comparable to a pencil lead; they are contained within a transparent plastic tube. Surrounding this tube is a sheath consisting of three steel segments designed so that they interlock and form a circular jacket. Around that is a layer of about 20 steel "strength wires" - each perhaps 2 mm in diameter - that wrap around the core in a steep helix. Around the strength wires goes a copper tube that serves as the conductor for the 10,000-volt power feed. Only one conductor is needed because the ocean serves as the ground wire. This tube also is watertight and so performs the additional function of protecting the cable's innards. It then is surrounded by polyethylene insulation to a total thickness of about an inch. To protect it from the rigors of shipment and laying, the entire cable is clothed in good old-fashioned tarred jute, although jute nowadays is made from plastic, not hemp.
good. fast. cheap. (pick any two, you can't have all three)
I checked out the Internet traffic report to see what kind of effect this harmless mistake had. North American traffic statistics
Keen! Can you spot the time the big bad backhoe operator cut the cord?
Construction/Utility repair guys don't have an easy life. They're the ones out there in the middle of the night when your power line has gone down, or the ones fixing that broken sewer pipe, or the ones who make sure you have water. Near here they're doing major construction over on Grand Avenue, and to avoid traffic they have to do it in the middle of the night. They accidentally cut off a hunk of phone lines and about 1000 people had no phone service, but that happens pretty rarely.. I'd like to see YOU guys doing hard physical labor all night or all day trying to avoid speeding cars and a maze of pipes and cables and never screw up occasionally.