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Old 28th Dec 2006, 01:04
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Blacksheep
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Question Is Asia Truly Part of the Internet?

For the past two days we have been unable to access the internet outside Borneo. Yesterday there was a partial return but service was and remains very slow and unreliable with many sites remaining unreachable. This link from Channel News Asia explains that the disruption was caused by an earthquake near Taiwan that damaged undersea cables. China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and elsewhere were knocked out, with knock-on effects as far away as Australia for companies whose Internet is routed through affected areas.
The implication is that most of East and South East Asia is connected to the internet through Taiwan. The internet is supposed to be based upon a "geodesic" model so that removal of any single node (by a nuclear strike for example) would not disrupt the services elsewhere. This is not the case with this earthquake.
So, is Asia really "on the Internet" or not?

Last edited by Blacksheep; 28th Dec 2006 at 03:53. Reason: To correct syntax error in the link
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