fiber cut 19 May/PM -> 20 May/AM in Ashburn, VA (lawnmower?!)
Since none of the usual suspects have noted it, I'll give a cursory nod to an ILEC (Verizon) fiber cut that happened mid-afternoon yesterday in Ashburn, VA. About a thousand POTS customers were down (including several OOB dialups of which I am aware in the Equinix facility in Ashburn), as well as some T1 and faster loops to Equinix and elsewhere in the immediate area. Outage was likely off the radar because despite the big concentration of connectivity in the affected area, the natural cost disadvantage of the ILEC meant that few circuits of consequence were riding that fiber. Service was resumed after approximately 12 hours. RFO given was that the fiber cut was caused by a commercial lawnmower. Humorous comments left as an exercise to the reader. ---Rob
Since none of the usual suspects have noted it, I'll give a cursory nod to an ILEC (Verizon) fiber cut that happened mid-afternoon yesterday in Ashburn, VA. About a thousand POTS customers were down (including several OOB dialups of which I am aware in the Equinix facility in Ashburn), as well as some T1 and faster loops to Equinix and elsewhere in the immediate area. Outage was likely off the radar because despite the big concentration of connectivity in the affected area, the natural cost disadvantage of the ILEC meant that few circuits of consequence were riding that fiber.
Service was resumed after approximately 12 hours. RFO given was that the fiber cut was caused by a commercial lawnmower. Humorous comments left as an exercise to the reader.
---Rob
Either raise the Blade or Lower the Fiber ! The big issue I saw as contractor was that the fiber was laid without a tracer nor anchored as the IEEE and building codes don't address the installation and even then the landscapers come in and move things around. Pretty soon the fiber was right on top and all you have to do is crack it just a little and the game is over for 12 hours. Peter
On Thu, 20 May 2004, Robert E. Seastrom wrote:
in the immediate area. Outage was likely off the radar because despite the big concentration of connectivity in the affected area, the natural cost disadvantage of the ILEC meant that few circuits of consequence were riding that fiber.
It also affected 9-1-1 service in Ashburn and was reported through the normal channels. Unfortunately, the FCC no longer makes the outage reports available on its web site. Stuff happens, stuff has always happened, stuff will continue to happen.
Forgive me, but Isn't Sonet usually deployed in a ring? Why the heck would a fiber this important not be? Sean Donelan wrote:
On Thu, 20 May 2004, Robert E. Seastrom wrote:
in the immediate area. Outage was likely off the radar because despite the big concentration of connectivity in the affected area, the natural cost disadvantage of the ILEC meant that few circuits of consequence were riding that fiber.
It also affected 9-1-1 service in Ashburn and was reported through the normal channels. Unfortunately, the FCC no longer makes the outage reports available on its web site.
Stuff happens, stuff has always happened, stuff will continue to happen.
On Thu, 20 May 2004, Dan Armstrong wrote:
Forgive me, but
Isn't Sonet usually deployed in a ring? Why the heck would a fiber this important not be?
You are making assumptions. Large Part of Southern Utah Without 911 Service May 20 2004 http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=5&sid=95368 Verizon phone service, 911 interrupted May 20 2004 http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/8711763.htm Phone Outage Could Limit 911 Access May 19 2004 http://www.nbc4.com/news/3324749/detail.html Stuff happens, stuff has always happened, stuff will continue to happen. 9-1-1 is much more complex than a normal dialed telephone call, is it any surpise it has problems every once in a while. Its always a good idea to keep the normal 7 or 10 digit phone number for your local emergency services some place. You don't get the benefit of automatic location; but direct dialing has the advantage of working over any working connection to the PSTN including wireline, cellular, voip, satellite, ham radio patch, etc.
On Fri, 21 May 2004 00:33:10 -0400 (EDT) Sean Donelan wrote:
On Thu, 20 May 2004, Dan Armstrong wrote:
Forgive me, but
Isn't Sonet usually deployed in a ring? Why the heck would a fiber this important not be?
You are making assumptions.
I will echo this. In sworn testimony in Maine PUC Docket 2002-243 (Dark Fiber Docket), Verizon's expert witness stated that 90% of Verizon's Sonet rings in Maine were at least partially collapsed. I have a vague recollection that he also stated that the engineering standards in Maine did not differ from other states... so your mileage may not vary. regards, fletcher
Dan Armstrong <dan@beanfield.com> writes:
Forgive me, but
Isn't Sonet usually deployed in a ring? Why the heck would a fiber this important not be?
sonet, obviously, does not *have* to be in a ring, but it often is. unfortunately, a fair percentage of the time, the additional protection offered by a ring topology is a mirage, due to a configuration known as "collapsed backbone". in this instance, both pairs of fiber ride in the same conduit for some portion of the distance (most notably laterals to building entrances, but sometimes for a fair distance down the street). the driving factor in building this way is usually cost savings. while this arrangement does protect against failures of optics and electronics (which in fairness are indeed more common than fiber cuts), it provides no protection against hungry construction (or in this case, lawn maintenance) equipment. ---rob
(Apologies to people from Eastern Canada...) We in Canada refer to that as a "Newfie Ring". That is just bad planning on the part of the telco. Probably due to their size. The facilities people don't talk to, or don't like network planning people etc. etc. :-) Robert E. Seastrom wrote:
Dan Armstrong <dan@beanfield.com> writes:
Forgive me, but
Isn't Sonet usually deployed in a ring? Why the heck would a fiber this important not be?
sonet, obviously, does not *have* to be in a ring, but it often is. unfortunately, a fair percentage of the time, the additional protection offered by a ring topology is a mirage, due to a configuration known as "collapsed backbone". in this instance, both pairs of fiber ride in the same conduit for some portion of the distance (most notably laterals to building entrances, but sometimes for a fair distance down the street). the driving factor in building this way is usually cost savings.
while this arrangement does protect against failures of optics and electronics (which in fairness are indeed more common than fiber cuts), it provides no protection against hungry construction (or in this case, lawn maintenance) equipment.
---rob
On 21 May 2004, at 08:09, Robert E. Seastrom wrote:
sonet, obviously, does not *have* to be in a ring, but it often is. unfortunately, a fair percentage of the time, the additional protection offered by a ring topology is a mirage, due to a configuration known as "collapsed backbone". in this instance, both pairs of fiber ride in the same conduit for some portion of the distance
... or even as two wavelengths on the same pair of fibre. It's a sick, sick, twisted world. Joe
configuration known as "collapsed backbone". in this instance, both pairs of fiber ride in the same conduit for some portion of the distance
... or even as two wavelengths on the same pair of fibre.
It's a sick, sick, twisted world.
Come on, that is what we call lambda-diversity. In case your fiber fails to carry, say 1550nm in the middle of the night, you are protected with your 1590nm lambda. I don't believe how many people engineer for physical diversity and not lambda diversity -- and then its too late. <jk, I've been up since 6:30am> DJ
And unfortunately, sometimes cuts might be deliberate. I havent kept up on what the FBI came up with, but they were investigating some cuts in the Bellingham, WA area. Same cable was cut twice over the course of 2 years. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-09-04-fiber-fails_x.htm Dan Hanson
-----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of Deepak Jain Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 9:42 AM To: Joe Abley Cc: Robert E. Seastrom; Dan Armstrong; nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: fiber cut 19 May/PM -> 20 May/AM in Ashburn, VA (lawnmower?!)
configuration known as "collapsed backbone". in this instance, both pairs of fiber ride in the same conduit for some portion of the distance
... or even as two wavelengths on the same pair of fibre.
It's a sick, sick, twisted world.
Come on, that is what we call lambda-diversity. In case your fiber fails to carry, say 1550nm in the middle of the night, you are protected with your 1590nm lambda.
I don't believe how many people engineer for physical diversity and not lambda diversity -- and then its too late.
<jk, I've been up since 6:30am>
DJ
participants (8)
-
Dan Armstrong -
Dan Hanson (danhanso) -
Deepak Jain -
fkittred＠gwi.net -
Joe Abley -
P.Schroebel -
Robert E. Seastrom -
Sean Donelan