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Satellite A Challenging Alternative To Broken Ocean Internet Cables

Surviving the Asian Christmas 2007 Internet Outage

By Garnet R. Chaney

Latest update:

http://www.cnet.com.au/broadband/0,239036008,339272861,00.htm - Optus broadband users still suffering Asia's internet woes.
Malaysian Connectivity January 3rd Noon After Taiwan Earthquake Breaks Asia's Internet Access

Satellite doesn’t work as well as you’d think, but there is certainly a lot of call for more satellite redundancy right now. The lag to bounce off a satellite is enormous for the two times during the roundtrip of a packet. The satellites used are geosynchronous, which means they are very far out, and the lag is about 1 second, so interactive gaming, and voip are pretty much ruled out. Previous to the quake, 300ms ping times from Malaysia to Florida were common (with 60% of that time just being in the cross see voyage), now nothing less than 1000ms, with as much as 50% loss during the day!

Also rain fade, and solar interference when the sun lines up behind the satellite, and solar flares, are all challenges to internet via satellite. The power transmitted to a satellite has to be carefully managed to be high enough to punch through clouds, but not so high as to swamp out the satellite transponders on a clear day. Satellite can also be vulnerable to interference from radar detectors. Total bandwidth available is another issue, most of the satellites were designed for video relay, not internet traffic relay.

Well, the data started flowing for a little while. Just noticed only 26% loss, and ping times of <600ms. Checked tracert to see how things were diverted:

Tracing route over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     8 ms     7 ms     3 ms  login.router [192.168.1.1]
  2    17 ms    26 ms    46 ms  219.93.218.177
  3    13 ms    12 ms    13 ms  219.93.218.149
  4    12 ms    13 ms    13 ms  210.187.132.33
  5    13 ms    14 ms    13 ms  brf-odsy02-srp1-0.tm.net.my [210.187.135.2]
  6    14 ms    13 ms    13 ms  210.187.142.1
  7    13 ms    12 ms    13 ms  219.93.174.147
  8    90 ms    13 ms    15 ms  210.187.129.171
  9    48 ms    46 ms    46 ms  219.93.168.242
 10   197 ms   194 ms   194 ms  203.131.241.109
 11   196 ms     *      197 ms  ge-1-0-0.r01.newthk01.hk.bb.gin.ntt.net [203.131.240.237]
 12   313 ms   358 ms   319 ms  p16-1-0-2.r20.osakjp01.jp.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.9]
 13     *      473 ms   473 ms  p64-2-3-0.r20.mlpsca01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.109]
 14    15 ms    14 ms    18 ms  210.187.132.81
 15     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 16    13 ms    14 ms    15 ms  210.187.132.81
 17  ^C

Ooops… “TTL Expired in transit” at 210.187.132.81…. So at least for a little while, Hong Kong to Osaka to Milpitas was working, but someone had to fiddle with the routers… Now we’re back to the previous 900ms ping times with 50% loss…….

Tracing route to over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    12 ms     2 ms     2 ms  login.router [192.168.1.1]
  2    16 ms    24 ms    14 ms  219.93.218.177
  3    16 ms    13 ms    11 ms  219.93.218.149
  4    14 ms    12 ms    13 ms  210.187.132.33
  5    13 ms    12 ms    12 ms  brf-odsy02-srp1-0.tm.net.my [210.187.135.2]
  6    13 ms    14 ms    13 ms  203.106.240.202
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8    31 ms    19 ms    20 ms  58.27.124.58
  9    14 ms    15 ms    15 ms  219.93.174.84
 10   208 ms   208 ms   207 ms  202.188.139.166
 11     *      564 ms   562 ms  193.79.230.197
 12  1003 ms   978 ms     *     so-3-0-0.CR1.AMS7.ALTER.NET [212.136.176.169]
 13   965 ms   974 ms   972 ms  so-4-0-0.XR1.AMS6.ALTER.NET [212.136.176.53]
 14  1024 ms  1021 ms     *     so-0-1-0.TR2.AMS2.ALTER.NET [146.188.8.82]
 15  1072 ms  1076 ms  1099 ms  so [146.188.8.173]
 16  1075 ms  1103 ms  1108 ms  0.so [146.188.13.45]
 17  1082 ms  1079 ms  1089 ms  0.so [152.63.42.189]
 18   792 ms   789 ms   789 ms  0.so [152.63.43.177]
 19   789 ms   787 ms   792 ms  204.255.169.46
 20   797 ms   797 ms   798 ms  dcx [205.171.251.33]
 21     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 22   892 ms   904 ms   893 ms  nap [205.171.27.50]
 23   878 ms   888 ms   895 ms  65.124.216.54
 24   852 ms   856 ms     *     miaswr001-g5-1.mia.affinity.com [216.219.251.190]
 25     *      866 ms   857 ms  207.234.128.221

The worst of all situations is when the telecoms network silently routes some of your packets terrestrially, and the others via satellite. Bob had a story of how during his Univac days the military was having a severe problem with random failures at one of their Univac installations. It turned out he’d need to have access to some top secret info, and a General with a chest full of medals asked him a few “You’re a good old boy, right? You wouldn’t do anything to harm the nation, right?” type questions, and knighted him with clearance on the spot. The problem ended up being the issue of different routings of different calls with their modem, sometimes via satellite and sometimes via land, their system couldn’t handle the severe changes in latency……

This earthquake did a good job of severing most of the latency they tried to build into the network: “As far as reports goes, [SeaMeWe]Create?-3, ACPN2, C2C and EAC (ANC) (link) are severed. In other words, all the major submarine cable at the same time. Under other circumstance, when [SeaMeWe]Create?-3 cuts, we can fall back to ACPN2 or C2C or EAC. But when all of them are cut at the sametime, there is really nothing to fall back upon.” - http://tomorrow.sg/

It’s cable capable of terabytes per second. It’ll take up to 3 weeks to get boats to fish up the pieces of cables and splice them. So I think they need fishermen more than they need my skills…..

I guess another alternative is to run cables through places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Khazakstan? NOT!

Despite it all, at least Google is fast!

Uh oh, better finish this post, here comes a thunderstorm…… - G.

More reports on connectivity:

Hive Wiki: Satellite A Challenging Alternative To Broken Ocean Internet Cables

HiveWiki simplifies editing your website. Every page has an edit link. Hive Wikis use simple markup. And Hive Wikis document histories. Creating content with a Hive Wiki is simple. Go Here To Start Your HiveWiki Today! Home \| Edit \| Index \| Recent Changes Satellite A Challenging Alternative To Broken Ocean Internet Cables Surviving the Asian Christmas 2007 Internet Outage By Garnet R. Chaney Latest update: http://www.cnet.com.au/broadband/0,239036008,339272861,00.htm - Optus broadband users still suffering Asia's internet woes. Malaysian Connectivity January 3rd Noon After Taiwan Earthquake Breaks Asia's Internet Access Satellite doesn’t work as well as you’d think, but there is certainly a lot of call for more satellite redundancy right now. The lag to bounce off a satellite is enormous for the two times during the roundtrip of a packet. The satellites used are geosynchronous, which means they are very far out, and the lag is about 1 second, so interactive gaming, and voip are pretty much ruled out. Previous to the quake, 300ms ping times from Malaysia to Florida were common (with 60% of that time just being in the cross see voyage), now nothing less than 1000ms, with as much as 50% loss during the day! Also rain fade, and solar interference when the sun lines up behind the satellite, and solar flares, are all challenges to internet via satellite. The power transmitted to a satellite has to be carefully managed to be high enough to punch through clouds, but not so high as to swamp out the satellite transponders on a clear day. Satellite can also be vulnerable to interference from radar detectors. Total bandwidth available is another issue, most of the satellites were designed for video relay, not internet traffic relay. Well, the data started flowing for a little while. Just noticed only 26% loss, and ping times of <600ms. Checked tracert to see how things were diverted: Tracing route over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 8 ms 7 ms 3 ms login.router [192.168.1.1] 2 17 ms 26 ms 46 ms 219.93.218.177 3 13 ms 12 ms 13 ms 219.93.218.149 4 12 ms 13 ms 13 ms 210.187.132.33 5 13 ms 14 ms 13 ms brf-odsy02-srp1-0.tm.net.my [210.187.135.2] 6 14 ms 13 ms 13 ms 210.187.142.1 7 13 ms 12 ms 13 ms 219.93.174.147 8 90 ms 13 ms 15 ms 210.187.129.171 9 48 ms 46 ms 46 ms 219.93.168.242 10 197 ms 194 ms 194 ms 203.131.241.109 11 196 ms * 197 ms ge-1-0-0.r01.newthk01.hk.bb.gin.ntt.net [203.131.240.237] 12 313 ms 358 ms 319 ms p16-1-0-2.r20.osakjp01.jp.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.9] 13 * 473 ms 473 ms p64-2-3-0.r20.mlpsca01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.109] 14 15 ms 14 ms 18 ms 210.187.132.81 15 * * * Request timed out. 16 13 ms 14 ms 15 ms 210.187.132.81 17 ^C Ooops… “TTL Expired in transit” at 210.187.132.81…. So at least for a little while, Hong Kong to Osaka to Milpitas was working, but someone had to fiddle with the routers… Now we’re back to the previous 900ms ping times with 50% loss……. Tracing route to over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 12 ms 2 ms 2 ms login.router [192.168.1.1] 2 16 ms 24 ms 14 ms 219.93.218.177 3 16 ms 13 ms 11 ms 219.93.218.149 4 14 ms 12 ms 13 ms 210.187.132.33 5 13 ms 12 ms 12 ms brf-odsy02-srp1-0.tm.net.my [210.187.135.2] 6 13 ms 14 ms 13 ms 203.106.240.202 7 * * * Request timed out. 8 31 ms 19 ms 20 ms 58.27.124.58 9 14 ms 15 ms 15 ms 219.93.174.84 10 208 ms 208 ms 207 ms 202.188.139.166 11 * 564 ms 562 ms 193.79.230.197 12 1003 ms 978 ms * so-3-0-0.CR1.AMS7.ALTER.NET [212.136.176.169] 13 965 ms 974 ms 972 ms so-4-0-0.XR1.AMS6.ALTER.NET [212.136.176.53] 14 1024 ms 1021 ms * so-0-1-0.TR2.AMS2.ALTER.NET [146.188.8.82] 15 1072 ms 1076 ms 1099 ms so [146.188.8.173] 16 1075 ms 1103 ms 1108 ms 0.so [146.188.13.45] 17 1082 ms 1079 ms 1089 ms 0.so [152.63.42.189] 18 792 ms 789 ms 789 ms 0.so [152.63.43.177] 19 789 ms 787 ms 792 ms 204.255.169.46 20 797 ms 797 ms 798 ms dcx [205.171.251.33] 21 * * * Request timed out. 22 892 ms 904 ms 893 ms nap [205.171.27.50] 23 878 ms 888 ms 895 ms 65.124.216.54 24 852 ms 856 ms * miaswr001-g5-1.mia.affinity.com [216.219.251.190] 25 * 866 ms 857 ms 207.234.128.221 The worst of all situations is when the telecoms network silently routes some of your packets terrestrially, and the others via satellite. Bob had a story of how during his Univac days the military was having a severe problem with random failures at one of their Univac installations. It turned out he’d need to have access to some top secret info, and a General with a chest full of medals asked him a few “You’re a good old boy, right? You wouldn’t do anything to harm the nation, right?” type questions, and knighted him with clearance on the spot. The problem ended up being the issue of different routings of different calls with their modem, sometimes via satellite and sometimes via land, their system couldn’t handle the severe changes in latency…… This earthquake did a good job of severing most of the latency they tried to build into the network: “As far as reports goes, [SeaMeWe]Create?-3, ACPN2, C2C and EAC (ANC) (link) are severed. In other words, all the major submarine cable at the same time. Under other circumstance, when [SeaMeWe]Create?-3 cuts, we can fall back to ACPN2 or C2C or EAC. But when all of them are cut at the sametime, there is really nothing to fall back upon.” - http://tomorrow.sg/ It’s cable capable of terabytes per second. It’ll take up to 3 weeks to get boats to fish up the pieces of cables and splice them. So I think they need fishermen more than they need my skills….. I guess another alternative is to run cables through places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Khazakstan? NOT! Despite it all, at least Google is fast! Uh oh, better finish this post, here comes a thunderstorm…… - G. More reports on connectivity: Malaysian Connectivity To U.S. Afer Taiwan Earthquake Tuesday Morning January 2 8am Malaysian Connectivity January 3rd Noon After Taiwan Earthquake Breaks Asia's Internet Access Other stories: http://wealth.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a_PTb7Xsflfc&refer=asia http://speranzanuova.blogspot.com/2006/12/taiwan-quake-communications.html - Could a Taiwan Declaration of Independence lead to a repeat of this internet outage? http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/taiwan.quake.ap/index.html Online gamer Daniel Lee, 28, said he was suffering in Hong Kong because he couldn't spend his usual eight to 10 hours a day playing games on the Internet. "Most online games are routed through Taiwan, and now I can't play any of them. I can't contact a lot of people because my e-mail is down. It's a hassle and it's depressing, but I can't do anything about it," said Lee, who's unemployed. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/12/27/apworld/20061227133451&sec=apworld TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP): A strong earthquake off Taiwan's southern coast damaged undersea cables, cutting off phone and Internet service Wednesday to parts of China, South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and the United States, companies said. The temblor killed two people. From Articles Fresh copy to be cached until 1:20:58 PM 928 hits This Page: Edit \| History This Wiki: Home \| Related To Satellite_A_Challenging_Alternative_To_Broken_Ocean_Internet_Cables \| Index \| Recent Changes \| Random Page \| Search Login \| Create New Wiki \| Wiki List 11/23/2008 5:20 AM v0.61.106 ADBEFEED
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