Panopticon wrote:

"running dogg" wrote

There's a report in this thread that the phone system was shut down,
since cell phones are used as detonator timers.

Cell phones systems can be "shutdown" independant of landline phone systems
if that is so desired.

If the internet lines
were shut down, that would explain why BBC online was unreachable.

It is more likely that they were simply overwhelmed.

Hey, I was just throwing out a theory. Your idea is better though, the
always ubiquitous gremlin of "net congestion". Net congestion happens
all the time on normal days. Of course, if your connection suffers from
net congestion, your feed will abruptly cut off for "buffering" and/or
it will gradually degrade until it starts sounding like BBs rattling
around in a soup can. In the worst case scenario, the feed will simply
shut down and refuse to function completely. Over the air radio doesn't
have these problems, of course.

Maybe
after having four bombs go off in central London near Bush House, BBC
management will start beefing up shortwave BBCWS and other over the air
BBC services? I hope they're getting a firsthand lesson on how
unreliable their much vaunted internet technology is when it's needed
most.

A few more disasteroius incidents like this should make them come around if
they have any sense at all.

A very big if. BBC suits have shown absolutely no glimmer of sense.
Neither has the VOA, which is run by a guy who thinks that Eminem can
win the war on terror. The utter failure of Sawa/Farda in preventing
terror attacks should be enough reason to can Pattiz.

It's hard to believe that the original purpose of the internet was
to create a communication network capable of surviving a nuclear war. A
few guys with bombs can overload it. Imagine what blowing up the
buildings housing the root servers could do.

The TCP/IP network is the most robust communications network in wide use
today.
It was designed to be able to automatically route traffic around "damaged"
fabric. If
servers need to be "bomb proof" they are mirrored and located at
geographically
diverse locations so that if one server takes a hit the other(s) will
survive. That is the
idea. Whether or not the now "public" non-military internet practices such
mission
critical diversity is another matter.

Your robust communications network may work fine overall, but if too
many people try jamming on to one site that area quickly goes down. The
network is only as robust as the servers which comprise it, and those
servers keep going down in times of greatest need. Radio Australia's
webfeed went down after the tsunami hit, and RA was playing cricket
matches as the horror unfolded.


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