Taiwan Earthquake cuts off Hong Kong internet connection

I'm posting this using the Lynx text browser after finally managing to log in to my server in the US after a whole day.. This is just to let CPF members know that due to the damage to undersea cables, Hong Kong is virtually cut off from all international internet sites now, so, if you're trying to contact any of the Hong Kong CPF members such as myself, Waion, or AW, you'll need to give us time to reply. I haven't been able to login to CPF using my browser at all today, and this is the only way I've been able to post a message here.

Thanks Greg. I hope everything turns out ok your side.

Ouch! It's not like the phone company can easily send the tech van out there to fix those cables. That's going to take a while and cost a good deal of money.

Here's a great read on those. This stuff is righ up the alley of many CPF'ers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-Optic_Link_Around_the_Globe

Also be sure to read:http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass.html

what about satellite?

does the future phone number work?

(oh or does that only work for-out going from US?)

TedTheLed said:

what about satellite?

does the future phone number work?

(oh or does that only work for-out going from US?)

Click to expand...

From what I've read on the latest news, 4 cables were damaged in the quake, and unfortunately, these were carrying the majority of traffic out of Hong Kong to international sites. The estimate is that capacity is down to about 30% now until the cables can be repaired. Apparently, none of the major telecom companies use satellite for backup but are re-routing traffic through Japan, Australia or Singapore, but unfortunately, the capacity of these lines are limited. The earliest repair date I've heard is 5 days, but I'm thinking that this is probably too optimistic.

BTW, I'm still posting this through the Lynx text browser from my server as I'm still unable to connect to CPF or any international sites from the browser on my PC. So, I guess I won't be able to buy anything here since I can't connect to Paypal at all...

I just found a map of the undersea cables that are affected. You can see it here.

It's crawling here as well. Almost all the friends I've talked to either have very slow connections or have no connection at all. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

I am currently using a proxy from Singapore. However, I won't try to access my PayPal account from there using port 80 due to security reasons.

I'm managing to get on to CPF using the browser on my PC, using my company's server as proxy. Looks like the commercial servers are being re-routed first before any broadband/leased lines are given international access...