Illuminet ss7 cable cut (was Re: New York City: ATT Local Service (TCG))

The problem is with a Bell Atlantic cable cut affecting Illuminet. Illuminet is a SS7 network provider which interconnects many different IXCs and CLECs with the local ILEC. The cable is along Route 30 in Lancaster Pennsylvania. This is not the first time a cable cut has taken out the SS7 signaling in the Illuminet network. But due to the quirks in the FCC reporting regulations, Illuminet hasn't reported any outage. Previously Illuminet has a cable cuts in Illinois on February 26, 1998 and October 1997 which disrupted many CLECs and IXCs. Instead of installing their own dedicated circuits to every SS7 STP, they use Illuminet as a shared network. This means a problem with a relatively unknown network has very widespread affect.