Slow Internet
 

In case anybody else is finding that the Internet is slow ?

I'm in Dubai and have a 16Mb broadband connection. During the last 48 hours I've found that even small (10-20Mb) files are taking an age to download and streaming of UK/USA TV is now very much a stop / start affair, verging upon being un-viewable.

So I called my Internet Service Provider ( 'Du' ) and asked them what is the problem?

They responded that a submarine cable has been cut and that they are working to find away around it / re-route web traffic.

Du's suggested date for a resolution to the problems is 30th March 2011.

Ps. I've done my own routing tests and can see that IP requests made from a server based in London to my own server (running here in Dubai) are being routed via Los Angels and then to Singapore, rather than taking a more direct routing through Europe, the Mediterranean, etc... which therein seems to confirm what Du have said.

The subs off the coast of Libya I dont think are to concerned about watching out for cables :confused:

Thanks for the explanation. I found my internet to have been slower than usual over the past week or so too.

Being cynical, I find that they slow down the speeds just before a "special" to ungrade your service to a higher speed....

"Ungraded" sounds about right for my Etisalat "service"

Todays national
 

quotes DU, as fixing the problem....

broken undersea cable, and du divers will tie it back to gether again.

glf

Interesting. I have had slow internet here in HKG since the Japan earthquake. I did some digging and turns out that some cables were cut off the coast of Japan, so I find it surprising that the middle east would re-route internet across the pacific where there is already a strain.

I would say the problem in the middle east is controls of the internet traffic by all the dictatorship / monarchies that are running scared from the commoners. I mean, you got Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain.

This whole mess in the ME has one common force behind it - the internet. No longer can the leaders of these wealthy autocracies point the fingers at others and say "you should blame them for your problems". People around the world are now connected and it is much harder to hide the truth.

It is actually funny trying to watch these idiots hang on to power with dear life. It is gonna be good to see them hanging in the town square. You reap what you sow.