Why Broadband Internet Speeds are Slow Today
If you are wondering why your broadband internet connection speed is crawling, you are not alone. 3 undersea submarine cables have broken down by a ship anchor, slowing internet traffic in 13 countries accross the world.
When Youtube videos get jumpy play speeds, I always check my internet speed at Airtel Broadband Speed test to detect bandwidth speeds and connection quality. If you do not use an Airtel broadband connection, you can try SpeedTest to find you net speed. Since yesterday the internet speed has been half of what I buy (512 Kbps unlimited). Airtel customer support replied that it would be fixed within 48 hours. Apparently the problem is bigger than isolated few users.
Ships Cut Internet Undersea Cables
The affected cables are called Sea Me We 4 (SMW 4), Sea Me We 3 (SMW 3) and FLAG EA run under the sea between Egypt and Italy and carry 90% of all data between Europe and the Middle East. The Times of India reports
Rajesh Chharia, president, Internet Service Providers Association of India, says, “The cables are expected to be down till the end of the month. One of the two maintenance boats in the Mediterranean, the Raymond Croze, a France Telecom marine cable ship, will reach the location on December 21.”
According to a France Telecom report, while Maldives is 100% down, there has been an 82% disruption in India. Among other countries affected are Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar and Zambia.
“There are two theories: either the anchor of a ship, which could have displaced them … or an earthquake. We think it’s the first theory,” spokesman Louis-Michel Aymard said. The “Raymond Croze” cable ship was expected to reach the scene at 2200 GMT on Sunday, when the remotely operated “Hector” robot would start a search for the cables, which could have been dragged several kilometres, Aymard added.
The damage to the SEA-ME-WE3, SEA-ME-WE4 and FLAG cables caused varying degrees of disruption from Zambia to India and Taiwan. “We think we will get SEA-ME-WE4 repaired by December 25. For 4 and 3, it should be done by the end of the year, or maybe January 1,” Aymard said.
So it seems the internet speed problem will persist for a few more days for all internet service providers in the region. But considering this is happening the second time now, it highlights the vulnerability of the whole cable system, which can easily be broken by a mere ship anchor and disrupt internet services across a large part of the world!
