Denial of Service
Yesterday my ISP was hit by a DDoS attack that ran from 4pm to midnight and effectively wiped out their internet connectivity.
My teenage daughter was bemoaning that she couldn’t look up revision notes. My younger daughter was wailing that she couldn’t play Babble. My wife was annoyed because we couldn’t look at hotels for our summer vacation. I found myself repeatedly hitting F5 waiting for e-mail to return.
Clearly the internet has become a utility for those of us who are lucky enough to have 24-hour power, water, gas and telephone. And we’re annoyed when it occasionally fails.
Now let’s look at the mobile world. Dropped calls are still an everyday occurance. I just received a voice mail from a very important customer, despite the fact that the phone has been sat beside me all afternoon. We just accept it as being normal. In many areas of the UK we’re pleasantly surprised when GPRS works reliably. That’s equally true in Edinburgh and central London.
So when are the network operators going to offer the kind of service that will allow them to become a utility?
Or is that the opportunity that the WiFi installers can grasp, even if only in urban areas?
