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Vodafone Knackered???


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Old 28-02-2011, 13:50
summerain
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Nothing in Swindon either, I have 'emergency calls only' displayed. Will try re-booting my phone.
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Old 28-02-2011, 13:51
Miss Poppy
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found that turning phone on and off again worked! Phew!
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Old 28-02-2011, 14:09
summerain
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Nothing in Swindon either, I have 'emergency calls only' displayed. Will try re-booting my phone.
Just re-booted, 'emergency calls only' has gone, it now says 'no service' with no signal at all.
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Old 28-02-2011, 14:35
googleking
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Was just network switches that were stolen, according to The Register.

Therefore the thieves not only got inside the building but also had time to unplug (or maybe just cut) a lot of cables but importantly unscrew the things from racks. Trust me with rack mount switches even if you come seriously well tooled up like the terrorists in the Die Hard movie or something, it's still going to take several minutes to take these things out. And while someone might be able to carry one in each hand, they wouldn't for much distance, and not really on a motorbike or scooter. To steal enough of them to make the theft worth bothering to do they have to have had a very nearby car or van.

Dear me Vodafone. Either you have one hell of an insecure data centre by modern standards (normally you need to go through all sorts of cages and glass boxes to get in these places these days, and then multiple doors and cameras and access systems inside too), or some seriously defective security staff, or the robbers were helped - i.e. an inside job.

HUGELY embarassing for them, and that's before you start to look at how badly their customer communications on the incident have been, and the apparent total lack of a disaster plan to switch such vital services to a different data centre. The incident itself may now be resolved (finally seems to be in Hammersmith) but the multiple failures it's exposed are shocking.
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Old 28-02-2011, 14:51
dsnik
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Are we certain that physical access was obtained?
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Old 28-02-2011, 14:58
cleocat
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Working again in Oxfordshire.
I can receive, send texts and make calls but I am unable to revive calls just flashes up missed call and I can't dial 121 for answer phone ( message stuck on holiday message). Although when when Phone is Switched off it goes to answerphone!
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Old 28-02-2011, 14:59
legends wear 7
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Depending on what was hit the process to remove a card takes about 5seconds on some of the gear.

Besides that I would hazard a guess it's copper they were after

Just 2 cuts and pull out is all that's needed
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Old 28-02-2011, 15:11
the_melon
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It's strange, I just called my mob from my work phone and it doesn't work - I get a BT announcement. Yet, I can call out.

Internet is completely down.
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Old 28-02-2011, 15:34
jezzer
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How rubbish,Thought all was good as i have full signal,But i cant phone another mobile i get a message saying network bussy but its fine if i phone a land line.
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Old 28-02-2011, 15:35
prking
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Are we certain that physical access was obtained?
Its being reported that significant force was used to gain entry. What form that took we don't know.

I think the important questions are:

Why did the Vodafone war room take so long to put a fix in place?
Why was communication so slow (11 hours to issue a statement) with nothing in the website, twitter etc and call centre staff seemingly unaware?
The services appear to be coming back in piecemeal fashion, could this have been quicker?
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Old 28-02-2011, 15:52
Glawster2002
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Its being reported that significant force was used to gain entry. What form that took we don't know.

I think the important questions are:

Why did the Vodafone war room take so long to put a fix in place?
Why was communication so slow (11 hours to issue a statement) with nothing in the website, twitter etc and call centre staff seemingly unaware?
The services appear to be coming back in piecemeal fashion, could this have been quicker?
I've done some work in Bagingstoke ATP and it isn't an easy place to get in to, "significant" would be an understatement I would have thought.
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Old 28-02-2011, 16:11
jabegy
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Mine seems to be fine now, just got a text from a mate in Dorset, which I replied to.
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Old 28-02-2011, 16:19
malc59
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Its being reported that significant force was used to gain entry. What form that took we don't know.

I think the important questions are:

Why did the Vodafone war room take so long to put a fix in place?
Why was communication so slow (11 hours to issue a statement) with nothing in the website, twitter etc and call centre staff seemingly unaware?
The services appear to be coming back in piecemeal fashion, could this have been quicker?
it took place in hamilton close in basingstoke and they used sledge hammers to break in

nothing on vodafone website only on their forum, small message about the breakin
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Old 28-02-2011, 16:33
Glawster2002
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it took place in hamilton close in basingstoke and they used sledge hammers to break in

nothing on vodafone website only on their forum, small message about the breakin
Thee certainly seems to be a flaw in their security if that is the case. i would have thought they would have been picked up by the cameras before they even gained entry.
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Old 28-02-2011, 17:00
Margo Channing
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Ok I've now got a signal back. I can send a text but I don't know if they are being received.
I also cannot dial out and If I call my number from a landline I get a "number unobtainable" message aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
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Old 28-02-2011, 17:04
Margo Channing
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ooooooook switched my phone off and on again and can now make outgoing calls and receive incoming calls
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Old 28-02-2011, 17:16
jezzer
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Turned mine on/off loads of times and im still not able to make calls to mobiles,Calls to landline yes.
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Old 28-02-2011, 17:21
nickmack
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Depending on what was hit the process to remove a card takes about 5seconds on some of the gear.

Besides that I would hazard a guess it's copper they were after

Just 2 cuts and pull out is all that's needed
Surely there are easier targets than a (supposedly) secure data centre.

Something doesn't smell right here. I doubt Vodafone will provide much official information, but I wonder if it was an inside job/disgruntled (ex) employee?
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Old 28-02-2011, 17:36
jezzer
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So am i the only one who cant phone other mobiles? I can ring landlines?
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Old 28-02-2011, 17:51
Mark C
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So am i the only one who cant phone other mobiles? I can ring landlines?
I can ring out, but if anyone from outside the Vodafone network (either another network, or landline) tries ringing me they just get an error tone or message. They don't even get my voicemail, which was happening this morning.

I suspect it'll take a while to get back to normal, 24hrs or so. Might be helpful to switch our phones off, reconfiguring the network with thousands of phones trying to log on can't be making things any easier ?
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Old 28-02-2011, 19:43
cmq2
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The Mail has details of what it believes was stolen: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...e-service.html
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Old 01-03-2011, 18:38
Prodigy71
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Just called Vodaphone CS and they've confirmed that there is still a problem and credited me and my partner £25 each of our next bill. But as yet no further update from Voda as to what's going on or when things are likely to be back to normal.
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Old 01-03-2011, 20:20
Thine Wonk
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It makes you laugh that 1 or 2 members here have criticised other networks and said that they would rather be with a quote "proper" network like Vodafone.

A single point of failure to much of the network and in a low security building isn't good. It just shows you may as well save the money and go to Three etc.
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Old 01-03-2011, 20:34
prking
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That there are still issues with Vodafone after 36 hours raises serious questions about their disaster recovery. I can only think of only one other
network problem that lasted longer (Orange's data troubles).
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Old 01-03-2011, 20:40
Thine Wonk
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That there are still issues with Vodafone after 36 hours raises serious questions about their disaster recovery. I can only think of only one other
network problem that lasted longer (Orange's data troubles).
O2 had 6 data issues over 6 consecutive months about 18 months ago, some of which lasted quite a number of hours.

This is the first time I think VF has been affected to this level.

You can accept a few hours of data, but when you totally lose service to hundreds of thousands of customers for up to 36 hours that is a big deal, and it seems to me avoidable too.
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