AT&T cable break shows vulnerability despite era of fiber-optic technology

Article Abstract:

Long-distance telephone communications in the New York metropolitan region were disrupted on Fri, Jan 4, 1991, demonstrating that even the best technology is vulnerable. A previous outage, in Jan 1990, knocked out services for nine hours. AT&T uses backup systems to reroute traffic when a problem occurs in one of the big switching centers. However, Friday's difficulty involved a severed fiber-optic cable that carried 100,000 two-way communications and AT&T was not able to reroute the calls immediately because the installation of backup facilities was incomplete. This disruption underscores the vulnerability of communications systems in the United States, especially while carriers are replacing multiple copper cables with single high-capacity fiber optic lines. Friday's accident involved only one cable, but telecom traffic was disrupted for most of a day.

Communications Equipment, Evaluation, Fiber optics, Cables

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AT&T outage caused by negligence, faulty alarms, sloppy record-keeping

Article Abstract:

AT&T's networks in the New York City area were disrupted by a massive outage on Tuesday, Sep 17, 1991. AT&T cites a supervisor's negligence, alarms that did not work properly and poor record-keeping as reasons for the failure. This is the third time in two years that AT&T has experienced a major problem with its networks. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is concerned. FCC Chmn Alfred C. Sikes sent a letter requesting a full explanation by Monday, Sep 30, 1991, to AT&T Chmn Robert E. Allen. Allen is also concerned, as indicated by his letter to AT&T's employees. Allen says plans are underway to take out newspaper advertisements and publicly apologize to customers inconvenienced by the outage.

Analysis, Telecommunication switching equipment, Telecommunications switching equipment, System failures (Engineering), Failure

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