'bullorbear' said:
does anyone know what has happened to Telstra's infrastructure and why it is failing on a regular basis, I can not remember this being a problem in the past, ........ If anyone knows what the hell is going on please share
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How much time have you got 'bullorbear' and how many volumes would you like me to write...?
I'll 'attempt' to keep it short and sweet.
Back in the 'good old days' when dinosaur engineering fossils like myself used to freely roam the technology halls of Telstra's network infrastructure there was a far greater reliance upon good old mostly reliable and certainly very predictable, distributed individual "hardware" elements, to accomplish the desired network outcomes, whatever they may have happened to be.
Then things 'evolved' and the small 'distributed hardware' engineering model was replaced with fewer and much larger and 'centralized' hardware switches which also, simultaneously introduced new and often centralized, complex 'software control' systems to manage, the operation of these new large centralized and vastly more complex technology, network hardware systems.
This is all just a normal progression of global Telco technology and when it all works, which is most of the time, no one notices nor, even cares, but, when it fails, the results are hugely disruptive, as you have all no doubt recently noticed.
Compounding these problems of course are the facts that our modern society today is now far, far more dependent upon our ubiquitous Telco network technology for 'enabling' every facet of our society, and hence any disruption to it's continuity, now has a far greater impact upon our daily lives, than in days gone by.
What 'actually' caused the latest mobile network outage you ask..?
Well now that I'm retired I am now no longer privy to that exact information but, even if I still were, it would no doubt require me to write at least a couple of volumes here, to provide you with a 'detailed' technical explanation of the cause.
The main thing I always try to remember in these "the sky is falling moments" is that life itself, does not come with any guarantees, nor for that matter, does the unfailing performance and continuous availability of Telco systems.
It's worth remembering here, that even the very best science engineering and technology in the world, could still only ever produce space shuttles that occasionally blew up, and Telco infrastructure in comparison, is engineered nowhere near to that same level, in it's development.
Additionally, during the current transitional period where the NBN infrastructure is also being incorporated into the Telstra network and vice versa, this additional 'hands on' work also multiplies the 'normal' complexity and systems vulnerability to disruption, by an even higher order of magnitude.
Whilst Telco engineering types try to foresee every future critical point of system vulnerability and possible cause of failure and then formulate plans for implementing increased network robustness as a result, we are all, but only human, and even today, technology is certainly not perfect.
Now, something that had a far greater impact upon me personally, than Telstra's latest mobile network outage yesterday, was the news that I received from our longtime reliable Postie, who informed me that he has just been diagnosed with cancer.
Sometimes, perhaps a little more 'perspective' on what is 'really' important in life, is worth remembering.
(20min delay)