WebProNews

Tag: Outage

  • Xbox LIVE Down, Microsoft Aware of the Issue

    [UPDATE] Xbox LIVE is back up, though Microsoft has not yet commented on the outage.

    [ORIGINAL]
    It’s not just you – Xbox LIVE is down. If you’ve called off work to nurse your Labor Day hangover and were hoping to kick back for some Xbox multiplayer action, you may be out of luck.

    The Xbox LIVE service is currently down, according to Microsoft’s own server status page. The status for Xbox LIVE states that users “may experience difficulties” signing into Xbox LIVE on their Xbox or through the xbox.com website. Microsoft is working on a fix, though. From the server status page:

    We are aware of the problem and are working to resolve the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience

    The cause of the Xbox LIVE service disruption is unknown, and Microsoft has not issued an official statement yet. This is the same LIVE service that is set to be rolled into Windows 8 with its release, though some gamers have concerns that it could mean difficulties for indie developers.

    Note that Xbox LIVE is the only service that is currently down. The Xbox LIVE marketplace is still up, as well as the matchmaking service. No apps seem to be affected either, and the Zune service is still active, though that will probably be renamed soon, as the Zune brand is quickly being put out of its misery.

    Updates will follow if service resumes, or if further information from Microsoft is forthcoming.

  • Twitter Down: Social Media Site Experiences Worst Crash in 8 Months

    Twitter goes down, minds are promptly lost. When the micro-blogging site experienced an hour-long outage this afternoon, I’m sure it caused much fist-shaking and hair-pulling. Outside of a 60 minute outage back in October of 2011, the site has remained fairly consistant. Sure, there are moments when you’ll post something extraordinarily cool and you’ll get to iconic “Fail Whale”, but, for the most part, things run pretty smoothly for those of us who love sharing dumb thoughts with the world.

    CNN reports that the outage began at 11:59pm EST, though things were returning to normal around 1pm. Of course, this moment of bliss didn’t last for long; at 2:16pm, the site went down yet again, prompting the company to post “the issue is on-going” on its status blog. According to the folks at Pingdom, this is the worst crash the site has experienced since October.

    In fact, while attempting to write this article, Twitter experienced a few more outages. Like before, we weren’t greeted by the “Fail While” — the sight simply just timed out. Whatever issues the website is currently experiencing, apparently they’re still on-going. In the meantime, I suggest writing down all of the snarky 140-character comments you had planned for today in case you start to forget them. It’s been known to happen.

    So what in the world does a person do when Twitter goes down? They apparently do other things for a while, come back to Twitter, see if it’s up, and go back to whatever it is they’re doing. However, once things were back in motion, people started posting their reactions to the outage under #WhileTwitterWasDown. The results, as one might imagine, are pretty entertaining.

  • Amazon Web Services Outage Brings Down Websites

    Last Thursday night a power outage in a Northern Virginia data center caused some websites running on Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud technology to go down. The issue was resolved within a few hours, and Amazon was quick to provide updates on the situation at its status page for AWS. The situation began at around 9:45 PDT, and the status page displayed the following message for its Amazon ElastiCache in Northern Virginia:

    Some Cache Clusters in a single AZ in the US-EAST-1 region are currently unavailable. We are also experiencing increased error rates and latencies for the ElastiCache APIs in the US-EAST-1 Region. We are investigating the issue.

    Amazon less than an hour later discovered the source of the problem and posted the message that it was beginning to bring cache clusters back online. One hour after that, it was announced that the service was finally recovering, and at around midnight PDT Amazon announced the situation was resolved:

    The service has recovered and is operating normally. All affected Cache Clusters are now back online, API error rates have recovered and customers can once again launch new Cache Clusters. We will follow up with more details of the issue.

    The outage led to some sites, such as Quora, Pinterest, and Dropbox, being unavailable or unusable. This is the same type of situation Amazon Web Services faced last year, when another datacenter (in Virginia, no less) suffered the same problem. It sparked many questions about whether cloud platforms were safe for major websites to run on.

    Amazon’s response to last year’s issue was to promise better accountability and transparency. To the company’s credit, it seems that the service has improved: last night its status updates came quickly and the situation was resolved in a timely fashion. Amazon Web Services just this week expanded service and lowered prices for its support packages.

    (via ZDNet)

  • Breaking: Verizon Responds to Data Outage

    This morning we reported on a massive outage that was plaguing Verizon’s data network nationwide. Reports were flying on Twitter and on Verizon’s support forum that customers were getting no data connection on their Verizon Wireless phones. Most reports seemed to indicate that both the 4G LTE and 3G networks were down, though the 3G network does not seem to have been hit as hard.

    As part of that story I sent a request for comment to Verizon Wireless. They had this to say:

    Verizon Wireless 4G LTE service is returning to normal this morning after company engineers worked to resolve an issue with the 4G network during the early morning hours today. Throughout this time, 4G LTE customers were able to make voice calls and send and receive text messages. The 3G data network operated normally.

    While the spokesperson’s statement about the 3G network doesn’t seem to jive with what customers on the support forum were saying, it is nice to finally have some sort of statement from the company. The latest reports on the original support forum thread seem to indicate that the network is in the process of coming back online. Hopefully Verizon customers will be back to normal service soon.

    This is actually the second such outage in recent memory. Just two weeks ago (when the support thread was started) Verizon suffered another major data network outage two weeks ago that lasted for most of a day.

    Were you affected by today’s outage? If so, have you gotten service back? Let us know in the comments.

  • Nationwide Data Outage Plagues Verizon Customers

    Sometime in the middle of the night Verizon’s data network seems to have crashed. The first report hit Verizon’s support forum from San Francisco around midnight, Pacific time. Since then the thread has come alive with reports from all over the country. Users are reporting no 4G coverage and 3G coverage that was spotty at best. The most recent report on the forum was made about an hour ago from Illinois and reports no data connection.

    The company has been making a minimal effort at damage control via their customer support Twitter feed this morning, but have remained quiet on the details. No comment has been made either on the outage itself or on when Verizon customers can expect the problem to be resolved.

    I have sent Verizon a request for comment which has yet to be answered. The Verge, however, is reporting that they did manage to speak to a Verizon spokesperson who only acknowledged the outage without giving any further information.

    As one might expect, Twitter has been abuzz with complaints about the outage:

    @johnpaulable
    John-Paul Reed    @VZWSupport Data service does not seem to be working in San Antonio, TX. 78230 zip code. No 3G or 4G on my HTC Thunderbolt. 22 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @Killimansorrow
    Zac Hess    @VZWSupport why don’t I have data? 24 minutes ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

    @dantheman2865
    Daniel Kurin    @VZWSupport I’m having consistent LTE outage and spotty 3G since at least 2am. #FlintMI Any update on when this will be fixed? 25 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @yismach
    mj    @VZWSupport, Why don’t you come out with a public acknowledgment that there is a connection issue and some ETA? 27 minutes ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

    @Sysadm1n_X
    Aaron    No. reliable 4g & better radio works… RT @VZWSupport: Need a little assistance with your new Galaxy Nexus? Try this http://t.co/X0hb1Ltq 23 minutes ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

    Meanwhile, either someone at Verizon Support has a sense of humor, or they haven’t been paying attention. Just a few minutes ago they responded to this tweet…

    @DarkKnight1911
    Mars Blackmon    @VZWSupport what is going on I can’t call, text or email???? this is the 2nd time in two weeks 51 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    With the following:

    @VZWSupport
    VZW Support    @DarkKnight1911 Oh no! May I ask what zip code you are in? Did you power the phone off/on and try again? Are others having issues? ^TH 9 minutes ago via Radian6  · powered by @socialditto

    The timing of the outage is particularly problematic for Verizon, who have been pushing their 4G network heavily in holiday shopping ads for their phones.

  • Did the BlackBerry Outage Save Lives?

    Did the BlackBerry Outage Save Lives?

    Last week BlackBerry users from across the globe experienced outages with their service. Some of the reported problems included: accessing the web, using BlackBerry messenger, roaming in Europe, and even accessing their email. It was later found out that a huge backlog was responsible for the intermittent service.

    Sure, the BlackBerry outage inconvenienced tons of people, but could it have saved lives? That’s what the police in the United Arab Emirates are claim. They’re reporting that traffic accidents dropped by a staggering 40% in Abu Dhabi, and 20% in Dubai this past week. Their reasoning: driver’s BlackBerry’s weren’t working so drivers couldn’t text or check email forcing them to concentrate on driving.

    Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the chief of Dubai Police, and Brig Gen Hussein Al Harethi, the director of the Abu Dhabi Police traffic department, both told The National newspaper:

    “Absolutely nothing has happened in the past week in terms of killings on the road and we’re really glad about that … People are slowly starting to realise the dangers of using their phone while driving. The roads became much safer when BlackBerry stopped working.”

    It’s likely that the BlackBerry outage did cause some drivers to concentrate solely on driving, but their might be another explanation to those stats, as Naked Security points out.

    In late September a talented UAE soccer player by the name of Theyab Awana, died in a car accident when he crashed into a stationary lorry on the Eastern Road near Sheikh Zayed Bridge. Awana’s own father, Awana Ahmad Al Mosabi, said that his son was sending messages on his BlackBerry the time of the accident. Mosabi issued a statement asking drivers to be careful and not use electronic devices while driving:

    “There were no skid marks on the road, and Theyab’s friend who was driving behind him said he didn’t see Theyab brake before crashing into the lorry,” Mr Al Mosabi said. “We are not certain that he was using his BlackBerry, but that’s what everything indicates. Too many people are texting while driving, so I ask all drivers not to use their mobile phones or other electronics while driving.”

    It goes without saying that texting, emailing, or doing anything with your phone while driving is incredibly dangerous… so don’t do it. What happened to common sense?

    What are your thoughts? Do you think the BlackBerry outage played a part in the reduction of traffic accidents? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

  • PlayStation Network “Customer Appreciation Program” Detailed

    We’ve known that some sort of apology schwag pack has been in the pipeline since the early days of the PlayStation Network outage. As the downtime stretched to nearly one month, many were wondering how Sony was going to make up for all of that lost online multiplayer time. To be fair, many others weren’t concerned at all, stating that Sony doesn’t owe them any sort of merchandise as an apology since the PSN is a free service anyways.

    Well, whether you want it or not, Sony has announced the details of their apology, dubbed the “Welcome Back Customer Appreciation Program.”

    Over on the PlayStation blog, embattled updater Patrick Seybold says that the welcome back package will be made available shortly after Sony has “fully restored the service.” Of course, online multiplayer was restored over the weekend, along with other services like chat and trophy comparison. But “full restoration” has been hinted as late as May 31st.

    Without further ado, here is your appreciation package PlayStation faithful:

    All PlayStation Network customers can select two PS3 games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.

    Dead Nation
    inFAMOUS
    LittleBigPlanet
    Super Stardust HD
    Wipeout HD + Fury

    For PSP owners, you will be eligible to download two PSP games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.

    LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
    ModNation Racers
    Pursuit Force
    Killzone Liberation

    • A selection of “On Us” rental movie titles will be available to PlayStation Network customers over one weekend, where Video Service is available. Those titles will be announced soon.
    • 30 days free PlayStation Plus membership for non PlayStation Plus subscribers.
    • Existing PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive an additional 60 days of free subscription.
    • Existing Music Unlimited Premium Trial subscription members will receive an additional 30 days of free premium subscription.
    • Additional 30 days + time lost for existing members of Music Unlimited Premium/Basic subscription free of charge for existing Premium/Basic members.
    • To welcome users Home, PlayStation Home will be offering 100 free virtual items. Additional free content will be released soon, including the next addition to the Home Mansion personal space, and Ooblag’s Alien Casino, an exclusive game.

    So, how does that sound? Kotaku has an interesting take on the package, saying that based on retail prices for the games and PS plus account costs, Sony thinks that gamers’ inconvenience is worth about $104. Of course, that doesn’t take into account the 100 free virtual items and the TBA selection of “on us” rentals.

    To those of you who thought Sony needed to do something like this – is it enough?