Tonga sent back to 'dark ages' after underwater Internet cable severed

Fox News ^ | January 24,2019 | Anna Hopkins

[Hojczyk]

Residents of the South Pacific nation of Tonga are experiencing a total Internet shutdown after an underwater cable which connects the island to the rest of the world was severed, possibly by the anchor of a large ship.

It doesn't just mean that the isolated country can't access Facebook and YouTube - it's also affected email, airline bookings, university enrollment, money wires and prevented businesses from processing credit and debit cards - throwing the small country into chaos as they face up to weeks of Internet isolation.

A ship from nearby Samoa will be sent out to fix the severed cable within the next week, and in the meantime, a satellite dish has been set up in the country's capital of Nuku’alofa. Hundreds of people reportedly gathered outside the government building housing the dish, where the signal is most reliable, to conduct necessary business or to simply touch base with relatives located away from the island.

“You just wait for your turn to have your 20 minutes to access... it’s currently hot here in Tonga at the moment but they’ve put up a tent outside, with chairs, so people can wait," Tonga police spokeswoman Sia Adams said of the gathering outside the building, for which the hours have been extended to midnight.

[gaijin]

If it was rough on TONGA, how might it be in Palo Alto..?

Or Manhattan...?

PANDEMONIUM.

[SaveFerris]

I’m guessing Global Warming.

Al Gore can fix this.

[IronJack]

It was a short trip ...

[curdogmen]

ours went down for a few days....OMG I had tons of time to do all my chores, fight with the wife and go hunting...thank goodness it is back on... still not speaking to the wife....hehehe

[max americana]

Dark ages? I have friends who vacationed in Tonga. Dark ages’ is an understatement, even with internet.

[dead]

Manahattan doesn’t rely on a single cable to supply all it’s data access. And it’s an island, but you can walk from it to the mainland US in under a half hour.

[RedMonqey]

This is a good thing, right?

No more white man technology for Tonga.

As “Mother Nature” intended!

[SaveFerris]

Yeah, but now it’s like “Idiocracy”.

Oh wait, that was the USA under pResident Barack Hussein Obama.

[mountainlion]

I’m guessing Global Warming.

Al Gore can fix this.....

He should have been able to keep it from happening.

[SaveFerris]

Al Gore can fly some Internets out to them on his jet plane!!

[Secret Agent Man]

So in other words, you are till reaping the benefits of losing internet service.

Enjoy the silence.

[Truth29]

"A ship from nearby Samoa will be sent out to fix the severed cable within the next week, and in the meantime, a satellite dish has been set up in the country's capital of Nuku’alofa. Hundreds of people reportedly gathered outside the government building housing the dish, where the signal is most reliable, to conduct necessary business or to simply touch base with relatives located away from the island."

Oh does that bring back memories. I used to have to do that in Majuro in the Marshall Islands. Reserve a time or just go out there and sit under the dish until you got an opportunity. It was the only way to communicate with the US.

[Bonemaker]

“Tonga”? Where the hell is that?

[untenured]

Everything you say is true.

But the people who live there are mostly Democrats.

[Disambiguator]

Sounds like a South Park episode.

[SaveFerris]

[Facebook and YouTube]

Dear FaceBook,
Today I make fire. Tomorrow I post video on YouTube on how to make whee!%@###+=/...carrier signal lost



Yes, imagine this across a Western country. People would actually have to talk to one another. So much for applying for a job online.

[SaveFerris]

Southeast of Fiji - had to look again - Northeast of Tonga is Niue.

North-Northeast of Fiji is Wallis and Futuna.

[BenLurkin]

I remember life before the internet. It was not the dark ages.

In fact. It was better in many ways.

[GnuThere]

If you land in Fiji, you’ve overshot it.