Comcast Major Internet Outage in 7 states -- and nothing in the News??!

[pat_k]

I've been going nuts. Can get to DU, google, and some other sites, but not others -- like talkingpointsmemo.com talkingimpeachment.com. .

Thought my wireless router had gone bad or something.

I didn't bother calling ISP (comcast.net) because I kept checking news.google.com for various combinations of "DNS comcast outage" etc. Silly me, I assumed that any major outage would be reported by news outlets.

Never did get anything from news.google.com, but after hours of frustration trying to troubleshoot I came across this on google.com:

http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/comcast-major-internet-outage-7-states-de-pa-nj">Comcast Major Internet Outage in 7 states

by politisite
updated 2 hrs ago | 59 views

Politisite did a quick background check on other major internet outages. What we found was outages in 2005, 2007 and today all happened in the month of April, Strange.

Comcast Internet Health page is unable to load. Very unhealthy that an ISP can't handle large amounts of traffic.

Comcast help desk says "widespread service disruptions" affecting 7 states. Couldn't tell me what the problem is. Couldn't say when it would be fixed.

We need to talk with regulators that internet access is "mission critical" and de facto monopolies need to run their business accordingly. We need information and regular updates.
Source: chewed-gum.blogspot.com via politisite

One blogger says, "Here We Go Again!"

This morning, it is another story. I can't connect to Comcast.net, my home page, and I can't access my email, and I can't access Ebay or CNN or the bank. I can, however, access Blogger (go figure?) and so here I am. I phoned Comcast and reached a recording saying that there were so many people calling in for service that they could not connect me with anyone to help me. They said I should call back later. Call back later and listen to the same recordings and wait and wait and wait.

Source: nancynearphiladelphia.blogspot.com via politisite
Here is a shout out to those in the affected area. Many folks have internet access with a cell provider, Let NP know whats going on. It appears that a Philadelphia is down completely
Responses to “Comcast Major Internet Outage in 7 states”

Splint Chesthair, on April 5th, 2008 at 11:53 am Said:

Same here, weird all morning. My internet is completely kaput yet there’s an unsecured wireless signal that I sometimes piggyback on in times of trouble that is semi-usable. Comcast.net won’t load, this site wouldn’t load for a long time, technorati won’t load but Gmail, Google, and blogger all work.
I thought it might be an OpenDNS problem but I guess not. I’m actually relieved it’s not on my end.
edit: and this is the second time trying to leave a comment.
. . .

What I wanna know is why the heck AP and others aren't on this. A 12 hour (and still going) major outage isn't news??

[rocktivity]

1. Mine is finally working OK (within the past hour)

I couldn't get my Comcast e-mail or to half my bookmarked web sites, but they seemed to have solved the problem.

I was able to get to the web site and e-mail on my personal server, as well as to DU, so I'm not complaining that much. ;) And I never lost my internet phone service--I was smart enough to buy it separate from the Comcast "bundle!"

:headbang:
rocknation

[pat_k]

7. Wish I could complain to a meaningful authority, but . . .

. . . War Criminals have corrupted every agency we created to protect our interests as they wage open war on the Constitution -- and the people we elected "support and defend" continue to waive the white flag of surrender while the so-called "strategists" and "analysts" scratch their heads and wonder why so many of the 80% who are disgusted with Bush still aren't willing to vote for a member of the craven Democratic Party.

Comcast has an obligation to see that such a major outage gets into the news. It may seem like a little thing, but nevertheless consumers ought to be able to take them to account for their failure to do so. But why would elected officials who refuse to defend the Constitution against the "unitary executive" give a moments thought to defending consumers against any level -- large or small -- of corporate abuse?

[flashl]

2. Every April? Perhaps a peering contract dispute?

US-Swedish carrier spat 'breaks' Net

Since March 13, customers of two large Internet providers, Cogent Communications Group Inc. and TeliaSonera AB are unable to contact each other through the Internet, unless they have backup connections from other companies.

...

It's not the first time this has happened: Now and then, Internet companies indulge in what Zmijewski calls playing "chicken." If they're fighting over a contract, they disconnect each other, and wait to see who blinks first. The number of irate customers each company faces will probably determine who does.

[pat_k]

9. Could be. With War Criminals in charge, abuses of consumers. . .

. . . are growing in number and scale. As long as impeachment is off the table and torture is on it, its "anything goes." When the people we elect to "support and defend" refuse to accuse/impeach War Criminals in the White House why would greedy CEO's worry about suffering any consequences for breaking the law?

[superkia]

13. Like the oil exec said to congress: " life isnt easy"! What assholes!

[Yael]

3. I have been having horrible trobles today trying to access various sites

This explains much.

[suffragette]

4. Here's a site that has posts about it

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20286322-Connectivity-connection-problems


Found it awhile back when I wasn't sure why my connection was spotty at the time.

And I agree, this should be reported more widely.

[uberblonde]

5. It was screwed up here in Philadelphia this morning...

But it's been working fine for the past hour or so.

[seemslikeadream]

6. THEY KEPT TELLING ME ALL MORNING IT WAS MY FAULT!!!

THEY EVEN MADE ME COME IN AND GET A NEW MODEM

BASTARDS

[Posteritatis]

8. Tech support drone units are kinda stuck that way

They're usually rigidly required to adhere to The Script, which usually assumes there's some PEBKAC involved even if it's obviously their fault. I've had friends call tech support for various ISPs because they knew there was a failure of a certain machine at a certain IP whose location they knew was inside the ISP's network, and they were still told to power-cycle their modem, etc. beforehand.

I had one of those where it took them two weeks to admit the problem was on their end. It turned out some techie was in a bad mood and killed a dozen or so accounts just to powertrip, but because of the way tech support's organized they were actually forbidden to check that until they walked me through a boring checklist, sent someone to fiddle with our lines, etc. Some of the questions were absurd. ISYN, they asked me "have you installed any viruses lately?"

[pat_k]

11. It's bad enough that comcast exec's didn't issue a press release . . .

. . .but keeping their own reps in the dark?

As one of comments on the report pointed out "We need to talk with regulators that internet access is "mission critical" and de facto monopolies need to run their business accordingly. We need information and regular updates."

Too bad that "regulators" and "regulations" are meaningless when the people we elect to "support and defend" won't even enforce the most fundamental tenets of our Constitution.

[lisa58]

10. That makes sense now...

...I could only get onto DU this morning - couldn't get my e-mail, none of my usual haunts, just DU

[Bozita]

12. Is there some way of google bombing this outage into the media?

[pat_k]

14. Since news.google.com now excludes alternative sources. . .

. .I can't find a "News" story for people to search for and "hit." The one I posted only comes up when I go to http://blogsearch.google.com">blogsearch.google.com and search for comcast.

BTW, this is the first time I noticed that news.google.com relegates news and commentary posted on alternate sources to a separate "blogs" section. When did this start?

And why the heck isn't the link to "Blogs" on the main news.google.com page? As far as I can tell, it only appears in the left column on the results page of a news.google.com search.

Can't let so much truth get mixed up with the articles spit out of the noise machine I guess. Perhaps it will backfire and people will start using blogsearch.google.com to get the real scoops.

[BlooInBloo]

15. Maybe google is broken for you....

http://news.google.com/news?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=comcast+outage&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn

[pat_k]

19. None of the stories are from today. And as far as I can tell. . .

. . .today's outage is by far the most widespread.

I did look at a few of the older stories when I first checked, but since they were about smaller scale outages days ago I didn't consider them relevant. (e.g., the April 2 "hoops fans" one is talking about an outage on March 22.)

[BlooInBloo]

20. Do you realize that today's paper was written yesterday?

[pat_k]

21. New service wire reports show up the minute they are written. .

. . Services like AP post and update stories as they develop. And the news service stories get picked up by major outlets across the nation. And they are all available to a google search.

A comcast press release reporting such a large scale outage is something that the news services would certainly take note of. I have little doubt that comcast did not issue one. If they did, then the beef is with the news services.

[Hekate]

16. Just a glitch. Nothing to see here. Move on. -- Also, there are no public utilities any more...

x(

[pat_k]

23. Nope. When elected officials refuse to defend against the

. . .open war bushncheney are waging on the Constitution, it's "might is right."

We are still the sovereign's here, no one can take that away. But enforcing our will is an uphill battle when the people we "hire" to enact and execute it refuse to do their jobs.

Criminal officials like bushncheney can't destroy a nation. Criminals our communities don't destroy the civil order or system of law. Only the failure of those we charge with enforcement can do that. And we charged Congress with the job of "policing" officials in the judiciary or executive.

We are still the sovereign's here. No one can take that away. But making our will manifest is an uphill battle when the people we "hire" to enact, execute, and enforce it refuse to do their jobs.

[knitter4democracy]

17. I couldn't get on DU at all for awhile this morning.

It didn't even give me an error page, either, which I thought was the darndest thing. Later, everything was back to normal. Very odd.

[Bozita]

18. Here's a link to a forum with plenty of comments about this Comcast outage ...

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20286322

It's a great website with a lot of knowledgeable techies.

[pat_k]

22. Too bad google now excludes such alternate sources from News.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3111003&mesg_id=3111248

[retread]

24. Whatever you do, do not go over your "limit." What's your "limit?" Only Scumcast

knows and they are not telling.