Rats who left New Zealand without internet in 2005

New Zealand It is a country that attracts attention for many reasons. Good for where he is or his many interests. as their Rugby teamFor its peculiar and exclusive fauna or existence Shooting scene From the story lord of the rings And The Hobbit. It also stands out as one of the first countries Women should be allowed to voteBecause people were with him The longest name in the world And for him Number of goats, more than ten to one people. Another notable fact is that New Zealand Lost the Internet in 2005 Because a rat.

Today, New Zealand can boast of having More than 94% internet access its citizens. 4.63 million users out of a total population of 4.88 million. It’s a job Started in 1989, when the Internet came to universities. Today, this country ranks among the top 30 in connection speed according to the lists it creates Okla. Using data from 2022, their average mobile internet speed is nearly 47 Mbps. and almost 95 Mbps on fixed connections. Like other countries, the Optical fiber Deleted previous links DSL. Among mobile connections, 4G dominates, although 5G is already available in major cities.

Very unfortunate internet outages

Thus, since 2005, New Zealand has entered the list of countries Connection terminated to the Internet because of a random event involving some humor. We see a 75-year-old woman left out of this list There was no internet in Armenia for several hours. The woman lived in Georgia and was scavenging for scrap metal when she came across the main fiber optic cable connecting the two countries. It seems that he cut the cable with a spade without realizing the disaster it would cause.

But there are connectivity cuts that affect entire countries They are not that attractive. An example Affected by Mauritania In 2018. A fact reminiscent of such events Channel Islands In 2016, three submarines were damaged by a ship’s anchor that separated cables. or either Egypt In 2013, three were caused by divers.

And sometimes they do Catastrophic contingencies. Similar to the situation in 2008 when there were three simultaneous accidents on several submarine cables. The result is recession and cutbacks in countries like Egypt, India, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

Internet in New Zealand in 2005

How was the year 2005 when the accident happened? That year, some internet providers introduced offers 256kbps download data. By the end of the years, they started seeing offers 1 and 2 Mbps. Figures rising to 3.5 Mbps in spring 2006. Otherwise, internet penetration in New Zealand was 84%. This is the percentage of regular internet users. Online shopping is common for 30% of New Zealanders. In terms of mobile connections, Vodafone and Telecom 3G was introduced in the country Although the prices are somewhat high for accessing the internet.

Specifically, the two largest telecommunications companies in New Zealand in 2005 were Telecom and Vodafone. Telecom New Zealand It was public and was privatized in 1990, becoming the property of two American and two New Zealand companies. For his part, vodafone It is known in many countries and is of English origin. It was the third largest company in the industry at the time TelstraClear and was acquired by Vodafone in 2012. As for Telecom, it changed its name Spark New Zealand In 2014.

No internet in New Zealand for hours

In June 2005, a rat bit one of them Optical fiber cables From Telecom New Zealand. As we saw earlier, it was the main internet operator at the time. As a result, New Zealand was left without internet for five hours. Citizens, institutions and, in particular, what affected New Zealand Stock Exchange.

Like the local media of the country The Sydney Morning Herald, they echoed the next day via the AFP news agency. Under the heading “Blackout caused by rats in NZ”, it added, “Blackout has further disturbed Banking and Aviation and closed the country’s stock market, disrupting communications in most parts of the country Five hours on Monday”. Apparently, “some Rats chew fiber optic cable It runs through the eastern part of the North Island near the capital Wellington,” a Telecom New Zealand spokesperson explained at the time.

But it’s not just the poor mice’s fault. Sometimes an unexpected coincidence turns a minor accident into a chaotic situation. It was like that. Going back to the newspaper diary of the time, “The problem worsened when the fiber optic cable arrived from the western part of the island. At the same time it was mistakenly cut by some workers in Taranaki on the West Coast”. This was already unfortunate. As the same newspaper explained, “When operations were suspended, The stock market was positive In the first session of the week.

What happened after the big blackout?

Mobile telephony and internet access were affected as a result of the two practically simultaneous outages. All of New Zealand was without internet. Cuts They overloaded the landlinesDuring that time it creates constant cuts and drops The rule is five hours. Monday 10:48 am to 3:18 pm local time.

According to German media computer watch, “Customers across the country have enjoyed Severe service disruptions as throughout the day Data and voice communication The connection between the cities was severed. Business services and Bank money The New Zealand stock market had to close for most of the day because of their inaction. Government departments were also affected (…). Auckland Police Unable to access your email.

Computer Voche He raised his hands over his head New Zealand government inaction. He criticized that there would be no “investigation into the lack of robustness in the network, an assessment of the losses incurred or a re-evaluation of the regulatory environment”. Apparently, the company responsible for the cables connecting New Zealand to the world, Telecom NZSaid “The Probability that both cables fail simultaneously It’s one in a million.” It gave statistics of “five minutes and 26 seconds of downtime on their core network every year.”

Importance of submarine cables

The good news is that there was a major blackout in New Zealand It has not been repeated. Yes, there were changes in Local market Telecom, but initially they had nothing to do with the incident. In 2006, Vodafone NZ acquired a rival company and became the country’s second largest telco. For its part, the New Zealand government will open doors for other companies to establish Your own fiber optic, cable or satellite network. All in all, Telecom continues to be the best ISP in the country, albeit in name now Spark NZ.

And about Submarine connections Along with the rest of the world, New Zealand is unlikely to be without the internet today. It is connected by several cables to the North Island. Importantly, the Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN)Connects New Zealand to Australia and the United States since November 2000. Second Tasman Global Access (TGA)Active since 2017. And then there is Hawaii, which also connects Australia, New Zealand and the United States as of 2018. A third cable was added in summer 2022, Next to the southern crossSCCN’s successor and with it meeting points.

The North Island meets South through several submarine cables. Aqualink (2001), Nelson Levine (2001) and Cook Strait (2020) In the near future, the South Island will be connected to Australia by cable Hawaiian NuiIt will open in 2025. Twenty years later New Zealand accidentally lost internet after being blamed on rats.