but a buddy in wales have massive problems with internet connectivity
For those that don't know, Wales is a relatively small constituent country of the United Kingdom (size-wise, it is 'about the size of Wales'): <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_size_of_Wales> Small as it is, it has a number of different internet providers using ADSL, cable, leased lines and DWDM. For it to be on NANOG, I assume there is reason to believe the outage is widespread and your buddy has already contacted their Internet Service Provider? For what is is worth, I'm not seeing any outages to the academic sites in Wales. Or maybe there has been a bit of storm which has blown it 3,500 miles to the west. If it has, please look after it, especially mid-Wales and North Wales, they really are quite beautiful. :) Best regards, Rob