SkyTel 2Way pagers DOWN all US
Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down. I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and they hoped to have it back 'soon'. Mark Rizzo Origin Systems, INC
Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down. I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and they hoped to have it back 'soon'.
There was a satellite failure that has taken out most paging in the US. My AirTouch is also out. I assume that the paging comanies are scrambling to get other access. Keep close to the phone and let your NOCs know. :-( -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634
BTW: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9805/20/satellite.outage/ On Tue, 19 May 1998, Kevin Oberman wrote:
Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down. I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and they hoped to have it back 'soon'.
There was a satellite failure that has taken out most paging in the US. My AirTouch is also out. I assume that the paging comanies are scrambling to get other access.
Keep close to the phone and let your NOCs know. :-( -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Atheism is a non-prophet organization. I route, therefore I am. Alex Rubenstein, alex@nac.net, KC2BUO, ISP/C Charter Member Father of the Network and Head Bottle-Washer Net Access Corporation, 9 Mt. Pleasant Tpk., Denville, NJ 07834 Don't choose a spineless ISP! We have more backbone! http://www.nac.net -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
On Tue, May 19, 1998 at 08:46:07PM -0700, Kevin Oberman wrote:
Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down. I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and they hoped to have it back 'soon'.
There was a satellite failure that has taken out most paging in the US. My AirTouch is also out. I assume that the paging comanies are scrambling to get other access.
Interestingly enough, my Tampa PageNet pager died around the same time, was down at 0300, and was working at 0830. The reason it's interesting is that I'm _not_ a nationwide customer. Their _local_ RF was down. Go figure. CHeers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth jra@baylink.com Member of the Technical Staff Unsolicited Commercial Emailers Sued The Suncoast Freenet "Two words: Darth Doogie." -- Jason Colby, Tampa Bay, Florida on alt.fan.heinlein +1 813 790 7592 Managing Editor, Top Of The Key sports e-zine ------------ http://www.totk.com
Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down. I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and they hoped to have it back 'soon'.
As well as regular "Skyword" pagers. We confirm your time, as we saw it about 7p Eastern, and a VERY WEIRD (Completely garbled, no time stamp) message at 5p Eastern. Saw on the local news tonite that it was "knocked out of orbit". The phone person just has said "Satellite problems". Both TV and Skytel say they are NOT the only ones that count on that satellite, so it might be worth some peace of mind to run a test of your pager. Tuc/TTSG
From what I gathered from PanAmSat's NOC, they lost contact with Galaxy 4's primary and backup controllers, but are still in communication with it via omnimode. They've turned off power to the payload to conserve energy, and are suggesting to people to implement their contingency plans.
MobileComm apparently has plans to use a backup satellite, but they don't expect their service to be online for another 7 or 8 hours. -G On Tue, 19 May 1998, TTSG wrote:
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 23:54:25 -0400 (EDT) From: TTSG <ttsg@ttsg.com> To: Mark Allan Rizzo <mrizzo@origin.ea.com> Cc: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: SkyTel 2Way pagers DOWN all US
Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down. I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and they hoped to have it back 'soon'.
As well as regular "Skyword" pagers. We confirm your time, as we saw it about 7p Eastern, and a VERY WEIRD (Completely garbled, no time stamp) message at 5p Eastern. Saw on the local news tonite that it was "knocked out of orbit". The phone person just has said "Satellite problems".
Both TV and Skytel say they are NOT the only ones that count on that satellite, so it might be worth some peace of mind to run a test of your pager.
Tuc/TTSG
From what I gathered from PanAmSat's NOC, they lost contact with Galaxy 4's primary and backup controllers, but are still in communication with it via omnimode. They've turned off power to the payload to conserve energy, and are suggesting to people to implement their contingency plans.
MobileComm apparently has plans to use a backup satellite, but they don't expect their service to be online for another 7 or 8 hours.
-G
Skytel is saying they have restored service to "some" but not "all" areas. I just spoke with a user in Jersey City, NJ, and his Skytel numeric is working fine, but I am in Newburgh, NY with a Skyword Plus and I'm still getting "STORING MESSAGES" when I normally get "BASIC SERVICE". I'm going to take a chance and get some sleep, although my entire IPP business revolves around the pager working. (Ok, yes, I have backup measures but I'm in the .5% of the times where the backup measures also wouldn't work). If anyone has anything more, or sites to visit to keep up to date, I'd be very interested. Its amazing, Skytel first made me turn it off then on, then take the battery out and put it in backwards and then back in correctly, before saying "You must be affected by the satellite problems". Wonder if I told them where I was would they have said that first. Also, WAY off topic, while talking to the woman, it seems that the pager broadcasts back to the tower that I get messages or that they are scrambled. (I figured it had to do this, but never was 100% sure... Helps to ask). Brought up an interesting point I joked with my girlfriend. Since I don't carry a cell phone (YET.......start to real soon to solve that other .5% problem), I told her if I was ever kidnapped to call Skytel as they had to be able to track where I was. The woman on the phone "would neither confirm nor deny" that possibility. She referenced a privacy issue and didn't want to say more. I more hope I don't have any pageable events, than they fix it tonite. Since, my luck, they'll fix it at 4am and they'll do such a good job all the test messages I sent and Skytel sent will make it through to me. Tuc/TTSG
On Tue, 19 May 1998, TTSG wrote:
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 23:54:25 -0400 (EDT) From: TTSG <ttsg@ttsg.com> To: Mark Allan Rizzo <mrizzo@origin.ea.com> Cc: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: SkyTel 2Way pagers DOWN all US
Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down. I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and they hoped to have it back 'soon'.
As well as regular "Skyword" pagers. We confirm your time, as we saw it about 7p Eastern, and a VERY WEIRD (Completely garbled, no time stamp) message at 5p Eastern. Saw on the local news tonite that it was "knocked out of orbit". The phone person just has said "Satellite problems".
Both TV and Skytel say they are NOT the only ones that count on that satellite, so it might be worth some peace of mind to run a test of your pager.
Tuc/TTSG
other .5% problem), I told her if I was ever kidnapped to call Skytel as they had to be able to track where I was. The woman on the phone "would neither confirm nor deny" that possibility. She referenced a privacy issue and didn't want to say more.
Interesting. Of course, we know from the OJ saga that Cellphones can be located well enough to find a moving vehicle... --Dean ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Plain Aviation, Inc dean@av8.com LAN/WAN/UNIX/NT/TCPIP/DCE http://www.av8.com We Make IT Fly! (617)242-3091 x246 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Los Angeles appears to have coverage. We never really saw it go away except for some lag and glitches. Our entire NOC team carrys the 2Way and we've tested to all oncall people and gotten responses 100% of the time. -- Jason Weisberger Chief Technology Officer SoftAware, Inc. - 310/305-0275 In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. --Theodore Roosevelt
Los Angeles appears to have coverage. We never really saw it go away except for some lag and glitches. Our entire NOC team carrys the 2Way and we've tested to all oncall people and gotten responses 100% of the time.
Ok, just make sure they don't wander into an area that isn't covered by the land-line towers........... Tuc/TTSG
On Wed, May 20, 1998 at 01:54:32AM -0400, Dean Anderson wrote:
other .5% problem), I told her if I was ever kidnapped to call Skytel as they had to be able to track where I was. The woman on the phone "would neither confirm nor deny" that possibility. She referenced a privacy issue and didn't want to say more.
Interesting. Of course, we know from the OJ saga that Cellphones can be located well enough to find a moving vehicle...
--Dean
Pagemart service is STILL down as of this time (5-20-98 8:30 AM CDT); I am getting neither my normal "news and weather" broadcasts or directed pages. -- -- Karl Denninger (karl@MCS.Net)| MCSNet - Serving Chicagoland and Wisconsin http://www.mcs.net/ | T1's from $600 monthly / All Lines K56Flex/DOV | NEW! Corporate ISDN Prices dropped by up to 50%! Voice: [+1 312 803-MCS1 x219]| EXCLUSIVE NEW FEATURE ON ALL PERSONAL ACCOUNTS Fax: [+1 312 803-4929] | *SPAMBLOCK* Technology now included at no cost
On Wed, 20 May 1998, Karl Denninger wrote:
Pagemart service is STILL down as of this time (5-20-98 8:30 AM CDT); I am getting neither my normal "news and weather" broadcasts or directed pages.
As promised, MobileComm implemented their contingency plans, and moved paging traffic to a backup satellite about an hour ago (8:30 Eastern). I've been receiving my pages normally since then. -G
On Wed, May 20, 1998 at 01:54:32AM -0400, Dean Anderson wrote:
other .5% problem), I told her if I was ever kidnapped to call Skytel as they had to be able to track where I was. The woman on the phone "would neither confirm nor deny" that possibility. She referenced a privacy issue and didn't want to say more.
Interesting. Of course, we know from the OJ saga that Cellphones can be located well enough to find a moving vehicle...
--Dean
Pagemart service is STILL down as of this time (5-20-98 8:30 AM CDT); I am getting neither my normal "news and weather" broadcasts or directed pages.
Still no SkyTel. Areas where they use land based communication to the towers are fine, but the areas where they use the "Sky" part are still down of course. I asked a Ham Radio friend of mine to look into it, and he'll be posting on his web site whatever he learns: http://digital.net/~cheshire Tuc/TTSG
www.takedown.com - cheesy but cute. Actually, I had problem with my CDMA phone today. I called the GTE techs to let them know they were having problems (I am not the one to usually complain -- they really did have problems). They were able to tell me which cell the call was made from. But that is not that exciting -- I can put my phone in debug mode and see the cell # for myself (gotta love default passwords). What was more interesting is that they knew approximately where in the cell was I, which neighbor cells the phone was trying to use (since the one I was in was dying - reason for the problems). They even told me when I entered the cell to the nearest minute. I wonder how satellite phones will affect this (project iridium). Ok, we now go back to your scheduled broadcast (and I have finals tomorrow) -- Yan Jan Koum jkb@best.com | "Turn up the lights; I don't want www.FreeBSD.org -- The Power to Serve | to go home in the dark." On Wed, 20 May 1998, Adam Rothschild wrote:
Interesting. Of course, we know from the OJ saga that Cellphones can be located well enough to find a moving vehicle...
Didn't something like this come into play in tracking Kevin Mitnick?
other .5% problem), I told her if I was ever kidnapped to call Skytel as they had to be able to track where I was. The woman on the phone "would neither confirm nor deny" that possibility. She referenced a privacy issue and didn't want to say more.
They can tell atleast what area you are in to probably about a 1/4-1/2 mile radius, I think. No question about.
I more hope I don't have any pageable events, than they fix it tonite. Since, my luck, they'll fix it at 4am and they'll do such a good job all the test messages I sent and Skytel sent will make it through to me.
Tuc/TTSG
On Tue, 19 May 1998, TTSG wrote:
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 23:54:25 -0400 (EDT) From: TTSG <ttsg@ttsg.com> To: Mark Allan Rizzo <mrizzo@origin.ea.com> Cc: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: SkyTel 2Way pagers DOWN all US
Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down. I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and they hoped to have it back 'soon'.
As well as regular "Skyword" pagers. We confirm your time, as we saw it about 7p Eastern, and a VERY WEIRD (Completely garbled, no time stamp) message at 5p Eastern. Saw on the local news tonite that it was "knocked out of orbit". The phone person just has said "Satellite problems".
Both TV and Skytel say they are NOT the only ones that count on that satellite, so it might be worth some peace of mind to run a test of your pager.
Tuc/TTSG
-- Jason Weisberger Chief Technology Officer SoftAware, Inc. - 310/305-0275 In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. --Theodore Roosevelt
Both TV and Skytel say they are NOT the only ones that count on that satellite, so it might be worth some peace of mind to run a test of your pager.
To their credit, Planet Connect notified their customers about an hour after the event that the Galaxy-4 delivered newsfeed was out of service. Stephen Denny mailto:sdenny@hex.net Hex.Net Superhighway http://www.hex.net
All Sprint pagers, as well as Pagenet is down also; due to a Satelite goign AWOL. They are repositioning another. On Tue, 19 May 1998, Mark Allan Rizzo wrote:
Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down. I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and they hoped to have it back 'soon'.
Mark Rizzo Origin Systems, INC
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Atheism is a non-prophet organization. I route, therefore I am. Alex Rubenstein, alex@nac.net, KC2BUO, ISP/C Charter Member Father of the Network and Head Bottle-Washer Net Access Corporation, 9 Mt. Pleasant Tpk., Denville, NJ 07834 Don't choose a spineless ISP! We have more backbone! http://www.nac.net -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
This is totally one for CIWARS and RISKS to go nuts on. Paging service nationally going nuts? Doctors, emegency things, on-call techs, all out of range because one satellite was taken out? Al Reuben wrote:
All Sprint pagers, as well as Pagenet is down also; due to a Satelite goign AWOL.
They are repositioning another.
I wonder how they page their on-call techs when the paging systems themselves go out. :) -- jamie rishaw (dal/efnet:gavroche) American Information Systems, Inc. rdm: "Religion is obsolete." gsr: "By what?" jgr: "Solaris." (1996) Tel:312.425.7140, FAX:312.425.7240
On Wed, May 20, 1998 at 11:55:01AM -0500, James Rishaw wrote:
This is totally one for CIWARS and RISKS to go nuts on.
Paging service nationally going nuts? Doctors, emegency things, on-call techs, all out of range because one satellite was taken out?
My inference of the architecture is that the local switch feeds corporate HQ, which sifts the nationwide pages, then forwards the traffic via the bird _directly to the towers_. That's the only reason I can see why the transmitters would go silent from a satellite outage. If you know for certain either way, email me privately, won't you? I'll summarize, but I don't think the intricate details belong here.. Cheers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth jra@baylink.com Member of the Technical Staff Unsolicited Commercial Emailers Sued The Suncoast Freenet "Two words: Darth Doogie." -- Jason Colby, Tampa Bay, Florida on alt.fan.heinlein +1 813 790 7592 Managing Editor, Top Of The Key sports e-zine ------------ http://www.totk.com
participants (14)
-
Adam Rothschild -
Al Reuben -
Dean Anderson -
Eric Kozowski -
Golan Ben-Oni -
jamie＠dilbert.ais.net -
Jan B. Koum -
Jason L. Weisberger -
Jay R. Ashworth -
Karl Denninger -
Kevin Oberman -
Mark Allan Rizzo -
Stephen Denny -
TTSG