A Brief History of Internet Outages

Gmail is back online, but some past Net meltdowns just went on and on. Herewith, a nostalgic look back at unplanned downtime from 1996 to today.

By  |  Monday, August 11, 2008 at 6:44 pm

Who? Netcom, an early ISP that was at one point the third largest one in America.
When? June 1996.
How long? 13 hours.
Why?The outage was caused by a Netcom programmer in San Jose, California, who entered an incorrect command and let too much traffic in, overwhelming the nationwide ISP’s point-of-presence servers and hub routers.
Upshot? Netcom’s stock took a hit.
Saving grace? While the outage was a bummer for Netcom’s 400,000 customers, it wasn’t a headline-making disaster like the AOL crash that happened two months later.
Any other problems? Nothing major, but Netcome wasn’t around that much longer; it was acquired by ICG in 1997, which was bought out by MindSpring in 1999, which merged with EarthLink later that year…
Who? Netflix, the Web’s dominant DVD rental service.
When? July 2007.
How long? 18 hours.
Why?Spokesman Steve Swasey attributed the outage to an unanticipated problem that he declined to describe.”
Upshot? Netflix’s stock tanked to its lowest price in two years.
Saving grace? Families that were deprived of movie night may have spent the time actually speaking to each other.
Any other problems? In March of this year, Netflix suffered a 12-hour outage that took down its Web site and delayed shipment of DVDs to customers.

Who? Skype, the pioneering aInternet phone call service acquired by eBay in 2005 and used by millions around the world.
When? August 2007.
How long? About two days.
Why? [A] deficiency in an algorithm within Skype networking software.
Upshot? Skype, which blogged about the outage candidly, ultimately said that teeming masses of Skype users restarting their computers at the same time due to a Windows Update patch triggered an unknown bug in the Skye system.
Saving grace? Anyone who thought that Skype could replace a landline got an important reminder that it ain’t necessarily so.
Any other problems? Skype’s not perfect, but this extended outage remains unique to date.

Who? Twitter, the red-hot microblogging service.
When? So frequently in recent months that it’s tough to keep track.
How long? Usually fairly brief, and sometimes only affecting certain features, but maddening for Twitteraddicts–and they all add up. (Wikipedia says the service was down for a total of about three days in 2007.)
Why? Not entirely clear except that the service has trouble keeping up with its millions of users.
Upshot? Twitter users spend a lot of time using Twitter to grouse about Twitter.
Saving grace? The FailWhale, who appears on the page you get when Twitter is sick, has become the first bonafide superstar of error messages since Apple’s Sad Mac.
Any other problems? Did I mention that Twitter outages have been so frequent it’s tough to keep track?

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10 Comments For This Post

  1. Jenny Says:

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  2. Michel Says:

    This is a cool post about coupons and there prices.
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  3. Andre Says:

    Nice post. Come to see my blog with internet history.
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  7. Elve Says:

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  8. Laura Says:

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  9. Daniel Says:

    I must say thats quite an article here but I would like to deeply say my thoughts of AOL and some others. First of all The CEO for AOL is a complete lier by saying it was the instalation issue when actualy it falls more on them. During recent years from what I personaly saw was the monthly charge increase every time they came up with a newer version. Sorry to say but AOL also is the ONLY online services that has had more law suits against them than any other site server alone. But thank you again on this story.

  10. Peggy Says:

    Harry, how about the Morris worm of 1988? Granted, the Internet was not yet public at the time, but I remember it as fairly damaging for the bio-tech company for which I worked.

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