ACT broadband performance during Chennai Flooding 2015

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Zaphod

Zaphod

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Your line appears to have gone down even before the Dec 1 rains and subsequent flooding. On Dec 2nd early morning, ACT shut down connectivity to the entire city as a “precaution”. They sent an SMS “apologizing for the inconvenience”. After food and shelter, connectivity is the most important thing during a disaster, and ACT's response was cowardly.

It's clear now that ACT had no disaster recovery or risk mitigation plans in place. They just disconnect their network equipment and sit on their asses. In this regard, ACT is only slightly more professional than your local cable operator. Call center was not reachable and emails got only the automated “72 hours” BS. The connectivity was partially restored on Dec 4th evening but the speed was only 5/5. Got full speed back today morning.

Airtel and BSNL landline and data networks worked throughout the disaster. Thank god I took the Airtel retention plan. It's a pretty good deal for Rs. 350 and they don't let you down in times of need. Unlike ACT which operates only in ideal weather conditions.
 
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Zaphod said:
Your line appears to have gone down even before the Dec 1 rains and subsequent flooding. On Dec 2nd early morning, ACT shut down connectivity to the entire city as a “precaution”. They sent an SMS “apologizing for the inconvenience”. After food and shelter, connectivity is the most important thing during a disaster, and ACT's response was cowardly.

It's clear now that ACT had no disaster recovery or risk mitigation plans in place. They just disconnect their network equipment and sit on their asses. In this regard, ACT is only slightly more professional than your local cable operator. Call center was not reachable and emails got only the automated “72 hours” BS. The connectivity was partially restored on Dec 4th evening but the speed was only 5/5. Got full speed back today morning.

Airtel and BSNL landline and data networks worked throughout the disaster. Thank god I took the Airtel retention plan. It's a pretty good deal for Rs. 350 and they don't let you down in times of need. Unlike ACT which operates only in ideal weather conditions.
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Not an isolated issue with ACT. It really just depends on your luck. Airtel broadband was/still is down in many places during the flooding and unlike ACT no intimation was given.
See @Airtel_Presence chennai - Twitter Search
 
There's a difference between losing connectivity due to cuts/submerged lines and deliberately switching off connectivity to the entire city. Airtel/ BSNL fall in the former category. ACT in the latter.
 
Zaphod said:
There's a difference between losing connectivity due to cuts/submerged lines and deliberately switching off connectivity to the entire city. Airtel/ BSNL fall in the former category. ACT in the latter.
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Don't get me wrong, I agree with you about lack of disaster mitigation plans. My point being that Airtel and other providers also did the same in heavily flooded locations, they just didn't send an sms.
 
I would say this calamity was unprecedented and not anticipated by anyone.....Apparently companies like ACT or any other ISP giants cannot take this stand....they should be prepared for all sorts of contingencies.
 

Sigh..
Water affects electricity
Electricity affects power
Power is needed to supply to these connections
So,if you have water and electricity combined,there are chances that some people might get electrocuted and die.
You don't even need water,if the electricity is high enough..you just a little bit of moisture or in some cases humid weather.
And now coming to commercial perspective,if you expose electronics water,moisture or any liquid substance,then you might end up losing your connection for a longer period of time,than just for a couple of days...
I agree that the communication was vital during the floods,but the chances of staying alive with your own survival skills was more appropriate than to expose the whole city of a big electrocution and also incurring a big loss
And regarding BSNL and Airtel,they were down,I wasn't able to contact a lot of my relatives..only some regions were able to cope up with it
And I'm sure they might have had some losses as well
 
Expose whole city to big electrocution? LOL How? The OFC cables carry light, not electricity. Even if their core router facilities were without power or under water, they should have failed over to Bangalore or Hyderabad. That's what disaster planning is all about and it is an integral part of network design.

Airtel and BSNL networks were down in certain regions because of last mile cuts or submersion. At no point was the connectivity to the entire city cut.
 
So,if this had happened like 50 years before..what would have you done ??
When there were no OFC networks ,in fact no digital networks.
I understand that some of them were working passively..but its hard to work when there are active networks as well and especially the fact that people who are monitoring these networks and people responsible to look after these networks might have had their own relatives stuck under their roofs and they wanted to help them instead of looking after the networks.
And again I can entertain the idea of saving others is important ,I personally would,but the lives of their own would always have more influence than others.
Not to mention the chaos widespread.
OFC do not just work under light..lot of other things come into place to look after them,proper biasing ,shielding isolation ,as much as the technology is under passive impression lot of other things which require it to run efficiently is under the influence of active power.
 
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50 years ago is irrelevant in the current discussion. How did Airtel and Tata keep their enterprise OFC networks and consumer copper networks up and running? Pretty sure their employees were busy with their families too. My office network, served by Airtel last mile fiber, did not go down even for a second. Cellular networks, while patchy, worked for the most part. Congestion was mainly due to high utilisation. I guess they are run by robots, not humans.

Data centers typically have multiple levels of redundancy with backup captive power, and they can be run remotely from another city even if no one is around. Again, it's all in the network design and how professional the company is. Good companies run disaster drills multiple times a year.

The only reason to get ACT is for the high symmetrical speeds. They are no more professional than your local cable operator with zero risk mitigation plans. Oh wait, they do. Just switch off the network! As a consumer, it's better to have a cheap backup plan from a more reliable operator.
 
You are trying to justify things in terms of technology,and I'm looking for more generic one.
Here's what I think,technology is still a luxury and people should have a perspective like that
Especially when incidents like natural disasters,one should not blame the government or private bodies in failing to provide the technological privileges.
There are more important things than providing Internet to homes,like rescuing people,providing them food and shelter ,in short making them feel safe again
I agree that if things like phones and internet if present would contribute a lot,but depending upon that and blaming someone for not providing it ,might be too much.
Like I said,at some point people did not have these luxuries and might have to endure worse situations than these with what they had :/
 
Well a good debate... All the other person was trying to say is: Why did ACT completely switch off their network...if Airtel/BSNL and other providers were able to keep their connections alive.

So I agree with him. I had like to think of Internet as a basic utility and ACT had no business in rescue mission or the responsibility of restoring and other utility either ways
 
fully fraud i will not suggest the ACT connection in chennai.....they will not give response to the customers they think like they spent money from his pockets... we are paying money but they not even listen the issues most of the time i got the connectivity issue. even am new customer to ACT they will not provide the services properly .but they stick with the money.... always connectivity issue not only with me also for my friends.... totally waste of getting this connection.....
 
Wait, ACT shut down their enterprise network too? That couldn't have played out well for them...
 

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