8 Facts About the Fibre Outage That Affected 10,000 Household in the East

No Wi-Fi? No Internet?

That’s what happened to 10,000 households in Singapore yesterday.

Even my not-so-tech-savvy grandmother would have been appalled if her internet services were disrupted, let alone the young people of the east. Well, I’m sorry to hear that you weren’t able to watch your Korean dramas or work on that important project you have due real soon.

For the rest of us non-East-siders, here are eight facts about the fibre outage that happened yesterday.

10,000 Victims

In this Titanic-like situation, 10,000 customers capsized. This means that 10 000 people had their Fibre services disrupted and 10,000 could have completed the Yanxi Palace series. But because of the disruption, 10,000 of them probably didn’t.

I guess you East-siders have the rest of the week to catch up on whatever you needa do ye?

Who Are the Victims?

Afraid not, Mrs. Snob. 

According to Channel NewsAsia, subscribers of Starhub, Singtel, M1 and MyRepublic services were affected, which come to think of it, is almost akin to anyone.

Even Singtel Wi-Fi, the free public Wi-Fi for Singtel users, were down. Guess there’s no escaping unless you don’t live in Pasir Ris, Tampines, Changi and Loyang.

Down for Almost 24 Hours for Some

This is probably an accurate depiction of how the East-siders felt while waiting for their fibre broadband services to be restored: Some only got their services back after 24 hours.

It started somewhere around 2:50 p.m., so as you’re reading this, some people in the east might have just come back to life got back their Internet.

So, what exactly happened? Did a cat eat all the Internet in the east?

Caused by a Third-Part Contractor

Even though it’s a matter of perception who the third party was in Titanic, it is safe to say that an outsider caused the fibre outage in the East.

NetLink Trust states that the service disruption was caused by a third-party contractor, who severed some fibre cables while doing construction work along Tampines Avenue 9.

Stop rearing your ugly head in, Cal Hockley. Or in this case, Mr or Ms Contractor.

$10 Waive for Starhub customers

How I would feel if I were an affected East-sider being offered $10 off my bill.

To make up to its users, StarHub will offer fibre customers a $10 rebate on their December bill.

But Singtel and M1 are moving in a different direction.

Free Local Data During Downtime

A real party is when SingTel and M1 decide to waive local mobile charges until services are restored.

That’s right, baby.

Instead of offering $10 off, they’re waiving off mobile data charges for subscribers during the downtime. Of course, you’ll pity people who subscribe to different telcos for their home Internet and mobile phone.

Those are the real victims, man.

NetLink Trust, However, Put Total Restoration to Tomorrow (16 November) Morning

Despite the telcos updating their subscribers that services have been restored, NetLink Trust latest update indicated that “the estimated time of full restoration has been revised to early tomorrow morning (November 16, 2018).”

In other words, there might be some poor souls out there who’re still not connected to the Internet. They are most probably sleeping now because life’s not life when there’s no Internet #justsaying

Two Similar Incidents Have Happened this Year So Far

If this sounds déjà vu, it probably is because it has happened this year before: not once but twice.

In March 2018, 700 users were affected in Jurong after a contractor accidentally cut a cable at Boon Lay Drive. In June, another contractor cut a cable at Ang Mo Kio Street 13, rendering the Internet usesless for 950 people in Yishun.

Not sure what’s the fascination with cutting wrong cable, though, but if you look at the number, you’d notice that they used to affect hundreds of users.

The latest incident affected 10,000 users. No wonder telcos are providing rebates and free local data.