[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] FW: News Alert: Big Internet outages hit the East Coast, causing issues for Verizon, Zoom, Slack, Gmail

Tue Jan 26 11:39:34 PST 2021

 Comcast, Yahoo and Google have not been hit in my activities today. Two payment portals I use were also working. 
I use TiVo Bolt OTA which only needs the antenna and an Internet connection for their Guide. I can add a Cable Card to my Tivo, but some Comcast features would not be present, including their Guide. Not sure whether "lifetime service" is life of the device, or life of the TiVo services! 
Comcast DVR can record today, but the service has had planned upgrade outages all month, usually very early in the mornings. I do lose my phone when this happens, and I can't watch my DVR recordings then for some reason. But TiVo stays up and running. 
Looks like this time someone cut a cable. With FiOS this means someone has to go underground or up in the air and physically reconnect each fiber bundle with its pair on the two damaged ends with a splice. Very time consuming, but usually gets done in a half-day or less. 
Too bad for remote learners and workers, but that's why there are alternative activities planned in the better-prepared districts. More work for parents and caregivers though! But with no more "snow days" the kids have to have something to break up their routine! (And there is snow in the forecast.)
For work there's always the phone in cellular mode, or hotspot mode if your plan allows that. Windows 10 has a Your Phone App which is supposed to work with some high-end Samsung Galaxy phones and may make things easier for such lucky folks as have those phones.
I imagine we'll be OK for our potpourri meeting Wed. morning. That's what we can focus on.
-- Bob Primak 
    On Tuesday, January 26, 2021, 01:48:53 PM EST, Paul Garmon <paul.garmon at gmail.com> wrote:  

 On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 1:00 PM Smita Desai <smitausa at gmail.com> wrote:

> Downdetector, which tracks reports of outages, showed widespread issues
> with Verizon, Google, Zoom, YouTube, Slack, Amazon Web Services and others
> Tuesday just before noon, disrupting the school and work day for many
> people.
> It was not immediately clear what was causing the outage. Some of the
> companies reported there were no issues with their service, meaning it
> could be caused by an Internet service provider.

[image: image.png]

Today's outage?  Zero effect on me so far. I've been using GMail, servers
at work, GitHub, and general background browsing with no noticeable issues,
but then again I have RCN...

  - Verizon Fios outage affecting US east coast - 9to5Mac
  <https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/26/verizon-fios-outage-united-states/>

  - Verizon Support: There is a fiber cut in Brooklyn. We have no ETR
  <https://twitter.com/VerizonSupport/status/1354109889572982786>
    [11:52 AM · Jan 26, 2021]

Hopefully they can get it all patched up soon (if not already).  However,
fiber cuts require special equipment, depending on the type of fiber and so
on.  I can remember two interesting fiber cuts in Lexington, one where the
military folks at Hanscom (back many years ago) were upset when a
contractor inadvertently cut a fiber running down Mass Ave (to BBN, I
think).  Another time, across the street from my house, one of the giant
garbage trucks snagged a (relatively new) Verizon FIOS install that was not
elevated enough ("sagging wires") and simply tore it in two. Took VZ all
day to fix using a special truck and I am sure they were mad about it,
having just finished installing the entire neighborhood!

Glad I went back to RCN from Verizon FIOS, primarily because I am saving
(at least) $60/mo x 12 = $720/yr.  Verizon simply refused to negotiate my
TV/internet/phone rate at all after steadily jacking it up over time,
whereas RCN was amenable to talking about various plans/options, plus to
cut costs and I ended up buying my own combined cable modem + router (very
solid Netgear C7000
<https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-C7000-Compatible-Providers-including/dp/B0781Z5PCL>).
So far, it's been close to 100% reliable since early 2019 (RCN has no
intervening ONT [fiber to coax interface] to fail and the coax comes
straight in from the pole -- with a grounding block on the house [which
might help with lightning strikes?]).  No noticeable performance difference
either inside or outside since switching, although (in theory) Verizon FIOS
"ought to be better"! 🤔

Paul

P.S. I will say that if you get the mid-tier TV channels (I no longer do),
Verizon had much better channel content selection than RCN, who has many a
la carte offerings which simply bump up your monthly bill. Note that if you
give up everything but Basic Broadcast TV, your bill will drop by almost
double the TV charge, because several other "fees" (which can't be charged
for Basic Broadcast) also go away.  I'd go to over the air (OTA) TV, except
my Tivo is cable-only, so I am keeping broadcast channels for now (and it's
not clear whether it's really all that much cheaper to drop down to
internet + phone only).
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