| One or Two Problems... |
Listed here are the announcements posted by members of BT Internet Support to the newsgroup btinternet.announce during the period May 1st - June 14th, 2000.
As you will see, BT Internet were not exactly trouble-free during this period: they managed to average one new problem per day. To view a selection of the most cringe-worthy posts (rather than every gory detail), click on the blue links.
Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 22:43:07 +0100
Subject: File Transfer Protocol not connecting
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet FTP Server and you may be experiencing difficulties updating your home page. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
BT Internet Support Team
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 00:18:47 +0100
Subject: File Transfer Protocol not connecting
Hello,
Intermittent problems with the FTP Server have now been resolved.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
BT Internet Support Team
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 21:13:57 +0100
Subject: News server
To All,
After an intensive investigation regarding the performance of the BT Internet news servers, a problem has been identified and a patch applied to resolve the issue.
We believe that the problem has now been resolved. however we will continue to monitor the servers to ensure this is so.
Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Something's wrong, but we don't know what it is...
Cringe factor: 3
Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 22:42:27 +0100 Subject: Undefined Service Problems - 3/5/00 @ 22:30
Something's still wrong, but we still don't know what it is...
Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 11:07:12 +0100
Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 12:33:23 +0100
Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 21:26:01 +0100
Date: Sat, 6 May 2000 18:30:42 +0100
Date: Sun, 7 May 2000 18:49:21 +0100
Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 12:55:38 +0100
Date: Mon, 08 May 2000 16:07:10 +0100
Operating System - Are you running Windows95? Windows98? MacOS 8.5?
Date: Tue, 09 May 2000 10:53:10 +0100
Date: Tue, 09 May 2000 15:05:14 +0100
Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 23:18:42 +0100
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 11:00:19 +0100
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 20:26:41 +0100
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 12:33:36 +0100
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 19:06:05 +0100
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 22:28:44 +0100
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 20:27:03 +0100
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 17:06:09 +0100
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 21:11:38 +0100
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 21:43:05 +0100
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 22:20:46 +0100
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 18:48:24 +0100
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 12:17:22 +0100
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 22:21:56 +0100
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 00:12:59 +0100
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 23:07:23 +0100
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 09:41:03 +0100
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 12:49:28 +0100
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 20:42:40 +0100
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 07:57:02 +0100
"Sorry - we forgot to warn you..."
Subject: Undefined Service Problems
We are currently investigating a technical problem with BT Internet which
may be affecting your service. Please bear with us as we endeavour to
resolve this problem as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any
inconvenience.
Regards,
Pete
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: Undefined Service Problems
As a result of a power outage our server platform was down for 2 - 3 hours last night.
We are experiencing legacy problems on some applications that haven't restarted properly.
Work is ongoing to resolve these problems & normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.
BT Internet Support Team
Subject: Dial Access Platform problem
We are currently investigating a problem with the Dial Access Platform & you may be experiencing difficulties connecting to the service. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
Best regards
Pete
BT Internet Support Team
Subject: Mail Server
To All,
5/5/2000 21:25
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet mail server which is affecting the sending and receiving of email. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Mail Server and Dial Access
To All,
The technical problems affecting the mail server and dial access have now been resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Dial Access Problems error 718 PPP timeout
We are currently investigating a problem with the dial access platform and you may be experiencing difficulties connecting to the service. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile We apologise for any inconvenience.
Carole
BT Internet Support
Subject: NEWSGROUP CHARTER - BTINTERNET.ANNOUNCE
NEWSGROUP: btinternet.announce
CHARTER:
btinternet.announce is a fully moderated newsgroup set up to provide an outbound information flow from the BT Internet Customer Communication Team to BT Internet customers.
WHAT IS THIS NEWSGROUP FOR?
btinternet.announce contains articles which give progress information on upcoming system enhancements, the announcement of the launch of those enhancements, details of any service problems and solutions to those problems.
The charter for this newsgroup will be reposted regularly. The subject line will be NEWSGROUP CHARTER - BTINTERNET.ANNOUNCE.
HOW TO POST:
This group is not available for BT Internet customers to post into.
RESTRICTIONS:
No restrictions apply to this group other than it is only available to the BT Internet Customer Communications team to post into.
WHERE ARE THE FAQs FOR THIS NEWSGROUP?
There are no FAQs for this newsgroup.
HIERARCHY CHARTER:
The BT Internet range of newsgroups is provided for the exclusive use of BT Internet customers. For more details on the individual newsgroups, see the Charter for that particular group.
"Instead of swearing at us - and scaring off the newbie subscribers - how about helping us debug this mess?"
Subject: Posting to BT Internet Ng's
Dear All,
If you have a look through the support and whinge newsgroups, you will see that there are a large number of "off-topic" posts - a number of which are rude or abusive. This is in breach of Terms and Conditions of your account and, apart from anything else, the actions of this small minority of posters has had the effect of dissuading newcomers from joining in.
The newsgroup charters have been posted again and we have put together a number of rules which will hopefully make things easier for everyone and will encourage newcomers to join in.
1) Do not be abusive or rude to people just because they do not agree with your viewpoint - if you do disagree with them, make your argument constructive, remember, by being abusive, you are in breach of the Terms and Conditions which could lead to your account being closed.
2) Before you post, check that you are posting it to the correct newsgroup. The Support newsgroup should be for people needing advice on the BT Internet software (Internet Explorer, Outlook Express and DUN/Remote Access) If you have a complaint about the service, please post it into the Whinge newsgroup.
3) We don't mind criticism, but please make it constructive - name calling does no good at all and just wastes bandwidth.
4) Help us to help you - if you post a message saying "I can't connect,"
please give details - if you don't give any information, we cannot help.
As a general rule, we would need to know
Modem - what modem are you using?
Area Code - Some problems may be regional so by giving us your area code, we can deduce this quicker.
Symptoms - A full description of the problem, including any error messages and what you were doing just before the problem occurred. If you are getting connected, make a note of the IP address and DNS addresses you are assigned.
Remember, when we have to call out the engineers, they will ask us for this information, so it would be better all round if we had this information before calling them.
If you are having problems with throughput, accessing certain sites or ping times to gaming services, please try a traceroute and send the details to us - there are a huge number of possible routes through our platform and this information would help us to direct our engineers to the correct area of the platform.
To get your IP address on Windows95/98, click on Start -- Run and type winipcfg. If you are using NT or Windows2000, click on Start -- Run and type cmd. This will open a command prompt where you can type ipconfig to get this information. There are many free or shareware programs available which will do traceroutes for you, however you can also type:
tracert www.btinternet.com
at the DOS prompt and this will traceroute to our web server.
These newsgroups exist for us to offer you support for the BT Internet software and for us to see the customer perception of the service. This information is fed back to management. The majority of users are very helpful and thanks to you guys, these groups are good source of advice to other customers. If we all follow the Terms & Conditions and stick to the simple rules mentioned above, it would make things a lot easier for everyone and the newsgroups wouldn't look as daunting to new customers.
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team
Previous cringe Next cringe
Subject: Intermittent Mail Server Problems
Hello,
We are currently investigating intermittent problems with the mail server and some customers may be experiencing time outs while trying to send and receive mail, we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards
William
BT Internet Support
Subject: ntermittent Mail Server Problems Resolved
Hello,
Intermittent mail problems have now been resolved, BT Internet would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.
--
Regards
William
BT Internet Support
Subject: Registration and FTP Servers
To All,
We are currently investigating problems on our registration and FTP servers, and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: BT Internet 128k Access
Hello,
We are currently investigating an intermittent connection problem with 08457128000, some customers may find once connected there is no data transfer, engineers have been notified and are currently dealing, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing.
--
Regards
William
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: BT Internet 128k Access
BT Internet Support <Support@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:8fbbud$no1$1@uranium.btinternet.com...
We are currently investigating an intermittent connection problem with 08457128000, some customers may find once connected there is no data transfer, engineers have been notified and are currently dealing, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing.
To All,
The technical problem with access to our 0845 7128000 number has been resolved. 128k access will now be available.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Mail Problems
To All,
BT Internet is currently experiencing mail problems. Customers may find that they are unable to retrieve their email. Our engineers are aware of the problem and are working to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
BT Internet apologises for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Iain
BT Internet Support
Subject: Mail Server
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet mail server.
Customers may be unable to retrieve their mail or use the BT Internet webmail service.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: Mail Server
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:8fc8dk$dnk$1@uranium.btinternet.com...
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet mail server.
Customers may be unable to retrieve their mail or use the BT Internet webmail service.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
To All,
The problems regarding mail server access have now been resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: BT Internet Search Engine
To All,
We are currently investigating technical difficulties with the BT Internet Search Engine, which may affect some customers use of this service.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this as quickly as possible.
I apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: BT Internet Search Engine
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:8fcd6e$2lq$1@neptunium.btinternet.com...
We are currently investigating technical difficulties with the BT Internet Search Engine, which may affect some customers use of this service. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this as quickly as possible. I apologise for any inconvenience.
To All,
The technical difficulties with the BT Internet Search Engine has now been
resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: FTP Server
To All,
We are currently investigating technical difficulties with the BT Internet FTP Server which may affect the service.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Webmail
To All,
We are currently investigating problems on our Webmail service and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: Webmail
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:8ff5vn$eaq$1@uranium.btinternet.com...
We are currently investigating problems on our Webmail service and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
To All,
The technical difficulties with our Webmail service have now been resolved.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Mail Server
To All,
To All,
We are currently investigating problems on our E mail servers and Webmail service and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: Mail Server
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:8fhg5e$s1$1@plutonium.btinternet.com...
To All,
We are currently investigating problems on our E mail servers and Webmail service and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
To All,
The technical difficulties with mail access have now been resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Home Page Search Engine
All,
We are currently investigating a Technical issue with the BT Internet search engine, http://search.btinternet.com some customer may experience time outs when trying to use this, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
--
Regards
BT Internet Support Team
Subject: Home Page Search Engine (Resolved)
All
The Technical problem with the BT Internet home page Search Engine has now been Resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards
BT Internet Support Team
Subject: BT Internet Email
To All,
We are currently investigating problems on our E mail servers and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Steven
BT Internet Support
Subject: SMTP problems 17/05/00
Dear All,
We are currently experiencing problems with SMTP - customers may find that they have difficulty in sending mail through BT Internet. This has been raised to our engineers who are now working on the problem. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Iain
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: SMTP problems 17/05/00
BT Internet Support wrote:
We are currently experiencing problems with SMTP - customers may find that they have difficulty in sending mail through BT Internet. This has been raised to our engineers who are now working on the problem. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Iain
BT Internet Support
Dear All,
The intermittent problem with the SMTP Server has now been resolved, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards
William
BT Internet Support
Subject: Webmail service
To All,
We are currently investigating problems on our Webmail service and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: Webmail service
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:8fusnj$2u9$1@uranium.btinternet.com...
We are currently investigating problems on our Webmail service and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
To All,
The technical difficulties with our Webmail service have now been resolved.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Pete
BT Internet Support
As BT Internet Support assert in the next announcement, few customers used BTi's "manual" proxy server - until BTi imposed their new "transparent" proxy servers on all customers. These, along with other elements of BTi's "new platforms", proved to be bug-ridden and frequently brought new meaning to the phrase World-Wide Wait.
Increasing numbers of customers then discovered that they could bypass the "transparent" proxies by enabling the "manual" proxy ... until, without warning, BTi switched it off - thus denying all web access for those whose browsers had been configured to use it.
Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 13:05:10 +0100
Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 15:44:12 +0100
Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 15:52:33 +0100
Date: Sun, 21 May 2000 18:10:03 +0100
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 19:30:31 +0100
Subject: BT Internet Web mail
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 21:15:48 +0100
Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 20:10:43 +0100
Subject: Service problems
Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 21:22:08 +0100
Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 12:24:22 +0100
Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 20:17:16 +0100
Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 21:49:35 +0100
Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 22:05:08 +0100
Date: Sat, 27 May 2000 12:52:00 +0100
Date: Sat, 27 May 2000 13:17:05 +0100
Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 10:48:01 +0100
Subject: Transparent Proxy
Dear All.
BT Internet has been providing transparent caching facilities for some weeks now. This technology gives the benefits of caching to all BT Internet customers without the need to re-configure their browsers. Because we now have that technology in place, we had planned to take the old cache machines out of service as and when usage of those machines died off.
Unfortunately, we experienced network problems late last week which required us to take emergency action. As part of that action, the decision was taken to turn off the dedicated cache machines. The BT Internet helpdesk was fully briefed on that decision, but we overlooked the need to post a message in the announce newsgroup. We apologise for this omission.
The number of people using cache machines was comparatively very small - around 150 - but since we have become aware that some customers would prefer to keep on using those cache machines, we have enabled access to them again from Wednesday of this week.
Since BT Internet has now provided the benefits of caching to all customers without the need to re-configure their browser, we would advise any customers using the old machines to remove their cache settings and take advantage of our new servers.
We apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused as a result of the older cache machines being turned off last Friday.
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team.
Subject: News Server
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet news server and you may be experiencing difficulties accessing newsgroups.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: News Server
Hello All
Our investigations into the problem with the news server are complete.
Engineers found a hardware fault and this has now been resolved
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Regards
Ian
BT Internet Support Team
Subject: Intermittent problems 21/5/00
We are currently investigating problems which may be affecting a small number of customers trying to access news, FTP or sending email.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience
--
Regards,
Iain
BT Internet Support
All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet Web Mail.
Customers trying to access this facility may receive an Internal server error.
Our engineers are aware of the problem and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible.
BT Internet apologise's for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Liam
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: BT Internet Web mail
In article <Support-876BA2.19303122052000@news.btinternet.com>, Bt Internet support <Support@btinternet.com> wrote:
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet Web Mail.
Customers trying to access this facility may receive an Internal server error.
Our engineers are aware of the problem and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible.
BT Internet apologise's for any inconvenience.
All,
The problems with the BT Internet Webmail Service have now been resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Regards,
Chris
BT Internet Support
Hello All
We are currently investigating problems with our Ftp, News, Mail, and Web mail Servers and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Regards
Ian
BT Internet Team
Subject: Re: Service problems
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message news:8gel5a$hf$1@uranium.btinternet.com...
We are currently investigating problems with our Ftp, News, Mail, and Web mail Servers and you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
To All,
The technical difficulties outlined above, regarding access to BT Internet servers, have now been resolved.
Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Dial access
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the dial access platform and you may be experiencing difficulties connecting to BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Webmail
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet Web Mail.
Customers trying to access this facility may receive an Access Forbidden error.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Dial Access (Resolved)
Hello All
We have been experiencing problems with an Authentication server, which connects to one of our major Dial Pops. This problem has now been resolved.
We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to all our customers for any inconvenience caused during this fault.
Regards
Ian
BT Internet Support Team
Subject: Webmail (Resolved )
To All,
The Problem with Webmail is now resolved
We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Ian
BT Internet Support
Subject: Webmail
To all,
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet Web Mail, and you may be experiencing difficulties accessing this service.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: Webmail
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message news:8goct2$nke$1@uranium.btinternet.com...
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet Web Mail, and you may be experiencing difficulties accessing this service.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
To All,
The problem with the BT Internet Web Mail service has now been resolved.
Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: BT Internet Email
To All,
We are currently investigating problems on our E mail servers and you may be experiencing difficulties downloading your email via BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Liam
BT Internet Support
4
Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 14:34:55 +0100
Someone forgot to flick the switch
Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 20:49:56 +0100
Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 22:29:25 +0100
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 10:46:25 +0100
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 10:48:00 +0100
"Emergency planned work"
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 15:16:08 +0100
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 19:07:36 +0100
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 13:21:37 +0100
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 10:47:58 +0100
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 14:10:34 +0100
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 13:09:12 +0100
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 14:11:44 +0100
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 23:14:43 +0100
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 18:43:39 +0100
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 18:44:21 +0100
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 21:04:52 +0100
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 21:30:26 +0100
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 18:48:35 +0100
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 21:25:12 +0100
Emergency Planned Outages (and other service failures) explained
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 13:07:40 +0100
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 14:26:08 +0100
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 18:38:01 +0100
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 21:21:49 +0100
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 13:14:57 +0100
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 08:13:56 +0100
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 08:17:03 +0100
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 23:01:18 +0100
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 08:30:40 +0100
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 08:34:34 +0100
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 08:44:49 +0100
Subject: Statement on service issues.
To All,
I wish to apologise for the delays answering newsgroup posts recently.
A large number of posts have been made, the majority of these have been with regards to the same issues of service and connection. These posts have been read and I have prepared a statement to allow these questions to be answered. Posts may not receive an individual reply where the points are covered in this statement, however other points will be answered.
BT Internet engineers have been investigating why customers have experienced problems with internet access through BT Internet.
A software fault was discovered on one connection node through which internet access would be routed. This was identified and resolved at approximately 9PM on 26/5/2000. As this was not the only connection node available connections which did not route through this node were not affected.
A fault has also been identified which has resulted in a degradation in peering to UK backbone providers. Peering is the system of communicating with other networks. Backbone providers provide the connection to the internet for internet providers. The fault has been identified within the BT Internet network configuration for peering to other backbone providers. The effects of this would be a reduction in the throughput of data to and from other networks. BT Internet is currently working to re-establish the correct peering to over all improve this data throughput.
An investigation into possible difficulties with Trans-Atlantic network connectivity is also being made. These investigations are to determine whether this is due to a fault within the BT Internet network or related to the remote network.
Customers have also expressed concern over access to email and propagation of newsgroup postings. Further information on these difficulties is being gathered and this will be released shortly.
I apologise for any inconvenience caused by these difficulties.
----------------------------------------------------------
--
Regards,
Liam
BT Internet Support
Subject: 0800 Access This Evening
Hello All
We would like to apologise to all our customers for a problem accessing 0800 earlier this evening.
This was due to problems out with our control on the PSTN / ISDN network
Please accept our apologises for any inconvenience caused.
Regards
Ian
BT Internet Team
Subject: E-mail Sending & Recieving
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet mail server which is affecting the sending and receiving of e-mail.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
Regards
Ian
BT Internet Team
Subject: Service Problems
We are experiencing problems with mail which affects some customers gaining access to their mailbox.
The problem has arisen following an upgrade to our mail services.
We believe we have identified the cause of the problem and have made the neccessary changes.
We are now monitoring the situation.
We will be working to resolve outstanding mailbox problems throughout today.
We are currently investigating problems on Web Mail, News and Registration Servers you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
David
BT Internet Support
Subject: Service Status
We are experiencing problems with mail which affects some customers gaining access to their mailbox.
The problem has arisen following an upgrade to our mail services.
We believe we have identified the cause of the problem and have made the neccessary changes.
We are now monitoring the situation.
We will be working to resolve outstanding mailbox problems throughout today.
We are currently investigating problems on Web Mail, News and Registration Servers you may be experiencing difficulties using BT Internet.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
David
BT Internet Support
Subject: Server Status
We are currently conducting emergency planned work on the mail server which has resulted in intermittent service problems throughout the afternoon.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
Regards
David
BT Internet Support
Subject: Service Status Report
To All,
BT Internet is currently investigating technical problems with the service.
FTP access may be unavailable resulting in an authentication error. Email servers may report as not being available, give authentication or mailbox locked errors.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: Service Status Report
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message news:8h3kre$mtj$1@plutonium.btinternet.com...
BT Internet is currently investigating technical problems with the service.
FTP access may be unavailable resulting in an authentication error. Email servers may report as not being available, give authentication or mailbox locked errors.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
To All,
The technical problems with FTP access have now been resolved.
Email server availability, authentication and mailbox locked errors are currently being investigated.
Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Sevice Status
We are currently experiencing problems on the Web Mail Service.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
Regards
David
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: Sevice Status
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:8h5bhc$1ll$1@plutonium.btinternet.com...
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
To All,
The technical problems with the BT Internet webmail service have now been
resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: SMTP Mail Server
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with our SMTP Mail server which may affect the sending of email.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: SMTP Mail Server
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message news:8h5jpa$lf1$1@neptunium.btinternet.com...
We are currently investigating a problem with our SMTP Mail server which may affect the sending of email.
To All,
The technical problems with SMTP mail access have now been resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Problems with Mail Server
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet mail server which is affecting the sending and receiving of e-mail. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
Regards,
BT Internet Support
Subject: Language In Newsgroup Posts
To All,
The support team is becoming concerned with regards to the amount of bad language used in posts to the btinternet.* hierarchy of newsgroups. A number of complaints have been received on this issue.
Swearing is not permitted within these newsgroups and should this continue customers will be warned on an individual basis.
Further occurrences would lead to the account being ceased with no further notice.
The closing of accounts is not action we would like to take, and I would ask that all customers respect this rule.
--
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team
Subject: NEWSGROUP CHARTER - BTINTERNET.ANNOUNCE
NEWSGROUP: btinternet.announce
CHARTER:
btinternet.announce is a fully moderated newsgroup set up to provide an outbound information flow from the BT Internet Customer Communication Team to BT Internet customers.
WHAT IS THIS NEWSGROUP FOR?
btinternet.announce contains articles which give progress information on upcoming system enhancements, the announcement of the launch of those enhancements, details of any service problems and solutions to those problems.
The charter for this newsgroup will be reposted regularly. The subject line will be NEWSGROUP CHARTER - BTINTERNET.ANNOUNCE.
HOW TO POST:
This group is not available for BT Internet customers to post into.
RESTRICTIONS:
No restrictions apply to this group other than it is only available to the BT Internet Customer Communications team to post into.
WHERE ARE THE FAQs FOR THIS NEWSGROUP?
There are no FAQs for this newsgroup.
HIERARCHY CHARTER:
The BT Internet range of newsgroups is provided for the exclusive use of BT Internet customers. For more details on the individual newsgroups, see the Charter for that particular group.
Subject: Webmail
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet Webmail Service which is affecting the sending and receiving of e-mail.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: Webmail
BT Internet Support <support@btinternet.com> wrote in message news:8h941b$9p4$1@plutonium.btinternet.com...
We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet Webmail Service which is affecting the sending and receiving of e-mail.
To All,
The problem with the BT Internet Webmail service has now been resolved.
I apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: SMTP Mail Server
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with our SMTP Mail server which may affect the sending of email.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Liam
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: SMTP Mail Server
In article <Support-775905.18483505062000@news.btinternet.com>, Bt Internet support <support@btinternet.com> wrote:
We are currently investigating a problem with our SMTP Mail server which may affect the sending of email.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
To All,
The problem with the BT Internet e-mail service has now been resolved.
I apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Chris
BT Internet Support
Subject: E-mail Statement.
Dear Customers'
Over the past few days we have experienced several problems. We would like to apologise for the interruptions in service and offer an explanation of what's happened and what we are doing about it.
The problems have been as a result of some software architecture changes between the database and our application servers.
As you will have seen on the Service Status page, we have been experiencing mail problems. In order to understand what happened, you would need to know roughly how your mailboxes work. Your mailbox is simply a folder on our mail server. When you connect to the server to download your email using POP3, you simply log into your folder on the server. When you log in, a special file called a lock is created. This "locks" the mailbox to stop anyone else from connecting to the same mailbox at the same time as you. When you disconnect from the server, the lock is deleted. Locks are also created when the server delivers mail to your mailbox.
Our engineers have been working on the mail servers and they have been altering the processes that:
(a) Validates that the mail-box exists
(b) Opens the mail-box and inserts the mail item
The mailbox is locked during (b), the benefits of the new mail system are :- shorter lock time and less machine resource use. This will allow the servers to handle more email.
Where did it go wrong? During the transition, which lasted several days, several mailboxes were left in a locked status. On Wednesday (31/5/00), we identified the defect that was causing this.
How do we know? We ran a process that told us that we had 2000 locked boxes, to put this in perspective, we have around 400k customers, many with multiple boxes. Therefor, this is rather a low number. We all use e-mail however, and understand the frustration this causes.
During Wednesday, we were able to recreate the conditions that caused the lock and we have developed a solution.
We left the problem "open" on the Status page and on the Service Status line because we were checking via an automated process for a reoccurrence of this problem. I can now say that the problem is solved. If any mailboxes are still inaccessible, please contact the helpdesk and they will be investigated individually.
Other customers noticed that mail was slow to arrive - Mail between domains is normally measured in minutes, mail is queued and then transited either internally within our server farm or to external domains. Incoming mail is dealt with similarly e.g. it is queued so that we can accept the mail item from the sending domain and then post the mail individual customer mail boxes.
During these changes and following the discovery of the mail box lock we have for several periods held the incoming mail on input queues to
(a) Investigate the locks
(b) Un-lock the boxes.
As I said earlier delivery of mail can cause a natural lock and we wanted to scope the problem accurately.
Regarding the Emergency Planned outage, Wednesday P.M, Ok I understand that this sounds odd, however it is just a phrase that we normally use internally.
We have planned outages which are normally agreed and communicated with 7 days notice, a planned outage moves to an emergency planned outage if we do one of two things either
(a) Come inside the 7 Day time frame
(b) Move a planned outage.
In this case, we decided to move an already planned outage forward a few days. The outage allowed our software engineers and Server Support teams to make the upgrades to our applications that prepared the platform for Surftime. During this period, we have again held external mail in queues.
A number of you also reported intermittent problems accessing web pages. During last Tuesday (30/05/00), customers reported 'slow web-page downloads' from the www.btinternet.com, our monitors showed the same thing. It looked like we were 20% down on average evening web pages served. Again, we think that this is a small defect, which we resolved on Tuesday evening. This started at approximately 16:00 hrs on Tuesday afternoon.
Regards,
BT Internet Support.
Subject: intermittent SMTP problems.
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with our SMTP Mail server which may affect the sending of email. Some of our customers are experiencing intermittent server timeouts when trying to send e-mail.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Iain 2
BT Internet Support
Subject: Re: intermittent SMTP problems.
To All,
The technical problems with SMTP mail access have now been resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Pete
BT Internet Support
Subject: SMTP Email Server
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with our SMTP Mail server which may affect the sending of email. Some of our customers are experiencing intermittent server timeouts when trying to send e-mail.
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Kevin
BT Internet Support
Subject: Throughput
Dear All.
BT Internet engineers are currently investigating a problem with IP Addresses starting 62.7.*.*. When connected to this range of IP Addresses some customers are experiencing slow web pages, e-mail, news groups and FTP etc. At this time our engineers have not fully identified the fault however they are working to resolve these difficulties as quickly as possible.
An update will be posted as soon as we have more information.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team.
Subject: Throughput
Dear All.
BT Internet engineers are currently investigating a problem with IP Addresses starting 62.7.*.*. When connected to this range of IP Addresses some customers are experiencing slow web pages, e-mail, news groups and FTP etc. At this time our engineers have not fully identified the fault however they are working to resolve these difficulties as quickly as possible.
An update will be posted as soon as we have more information.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team.
Subject: Throughput
Dear All.
BT Internet engineers are currently investigating a problem with IP Addresses starting 62.7.*.*. When connected to this range of IP Addresses some customers are experiencing slow web pages, e-mail, news groups and FTP etc. At this time our engineers have not fully identified the fault however they are working to resolve these difficulties as quickly as possible.
An update will be posted as soon as we have more information.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team.
Subject: Dial Access
To All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the dial access platform and you may be experiencing difficulties connecting to the service
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team
Subject: Dial Access
Dear All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the dial access platform and you may be experiencing difficulties connecting to the service
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team
To All
The technical problem with the dial access platform has now been resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Vanessa
BT Internet Support
Subject: Dial Access
Dear All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the dial access platform and you may be experiencing difficulties connecting to the service
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team
To All,
The technical problems with the dial access platform have now been resolved.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
Vanessa
BT Internet Support
Subject: Dial Access
Dear All,
We are currently investigating a problem with the dial access platform and you may be experiencing difficulties connecting to the service
Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.
--
Regards,
BT Internet Support Team
To All,
The technical problems with the dial access platform has now been resolved.
Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience.
Regards
Vanessa
BT Internet Support