Singtel broadband outage leaves customers frustrated
IMDA probes telco for 31/2-hour fibre broadband outage
Singtel users found themselves disconnected yesterday morning, as a fibre broadband outage left them unable to access the Internet.
Irate customers across the island reported connection errors on social media from as early as 7.30am, though the telco acknowledged the outage in a Facebook post only at 9am.
Internet access for all customers was restored nearly 31/2 hours after initial reports, at 10.55am.
Responding to queries, a Singtel spokesman said: "Unfortunately, we had some performance issues with our domain name server (DNS) for about three hours."
The DNS stores a directory of website domains in a computer-readable format, allowing users to connect to Internet websites from their computers.
The spokesman apologised for the inconvenience caused and thanked customers for their patience.
Users The New Paper spoke to expressed frustration that the telco did not inform them of the glitch earlier.
Mr William Toh, 45, an import and export company manager, said his calls to Singtel's hotline went unanswered.
He added that he lost out on a business transaction because of the disruption, but he declined to reveal the monetary value of his loss.
TNP understands the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)- which last year fined Singtel $500,000 for an islandwide broadband outage in December 2016 - has begun investigations into the outage.
If found in breach of regulations, the telco can be fined up to $1 million or 10 per cent of its annual gross turnover, whichever is higher.
For Maris Stella High School and Fuhua Secondary School students, the outage derailed their annual home-based learning day.
A Fuhua staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several students had to complete their assignments in school.
The mother of an affected student, who wanted to be known only as Ms Di, said her son was unable to submit some of his work on time.
"He was frustrated because every time he clicked 'submit', he was shown an error page," she added.
AFFECTED
Students at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) too, were affected. Second-year undergraduates Camillia Dass and Lim Xin Hwee, said the outage happened during their 9.30am registration window for next semester's course modules.
Said Miss Dass, 21, who lives in Aljunied: "I panicked because it is all about (who has the) fastest fingers and you need to be first on the website."
An NTU spokesman told TNP that students who were unable to register for their courses due to the outage could still do so from 5pm to 10pm yesterday.
"Students are advised to approach their respective schools if they need any assistance, or if they faced any problem registering their courses due to the outage," the spokesman added.
Mr Loy York Jiun, executive director of the Consumers Association of Singapore, said: "Telecommunication companies have the responsibility to ensure their network is reliable.
"We encourage these companies to offer some form of compensation such as waving off mobile data charges or extending credits or discounts to subscribers as a gesture of goodwill." - ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ESTHER LOI
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