Oops, giffgaff outage

Thine Wonk · 25-05-2015, 18:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrexham103.4

Yeah O2 down too

WHAT! You're joking?

clewsy · 25-05-2015, 18:46

Yes o2 reporting issues so looks like its affecting the parent as well. Let's hope they haven't been hacked.

Thine Wonk · 25-05-2015, 18:47

No service on my giffgaff sim.

wrexham103.4 · 25-05-2015, 18:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

WHAT! You're joking?

O2 phone here with no service for past hour. O2's Twitter is going mental with pissed off customers too.

johnathome · 25-05-2015, 18:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

No service on my giffgaff sim.

Still getting a signal here in Portsmouth.

clewsy · 25-05-2015, 18:58

It seems certain masts. Just did a service status check and seems some masts reporting issues, others showing as fine.

GG forum back online now.

Thine Wonk · 25-05-2015, 19:04

It can't be just a few local masts though as it's very widespread.

Gigabit · 25-05-2015, 19:08

Working fine here in Hampshire on O2...

KieranDS · 25-05-2015, 19:12

My works system runs on O2 and we've been having problems all day.

Thine Wonk · 25-05-2015, 19:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

Working fine here in Hampshire on O2...

Odd as giffgaff is down in Hampshire according to posters, mind you they are saying GG is down everywhere for all services. That might not apply to O2, which might just be down in certain places.

doubledecks · 25-05-2015, 19:24

Just made a call on my GG phone in Worcester no problems here

Alan1981 · 25-05-2015, 19:25

It's strange because me and my girlfriend's phone are both down. Yet my Uncle who lives 2 miles away is fine.

psionic · 25-05-2015, 19:36

Whatever is causing it doesn't appear to be affecting all users. Both GiffGaff and O2 seem to be working fine here so far. I'm probably tempting fate saying that !

wrexham103.4 · 25-05-2015, 19:43

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32878936 Bbc reporting it now

Thine Wonk · 25-05-2015, 21:14

The forums are back down again now, there's a message saying they have been taken down for maintenance.

snukr · 26-05-2015, 17:26

I've just tried to make a topup on giffgaff, after several unsuccessful attempts to log in, the website is now inaccessible.

snukr · 26-05-2015, 17:57

This is the latest from giffgaff.

Most Recent Update

17:44 - 26 May 2015 Hi everyone, At 16:04 we noticed that there were some issues with the server and at 17:00 we decided to temporarily move the site on a redundancy server. In the meantime buying goodybags and tops ups through the website will not be available. Activations, ordering SIMs and logging in will not be available while O2 perform emergency maintenance. While the community is available, you wont be able to log in. If you are already logged in you should be okay.

sills · 26-05-2015, 18:08

O2's own site seems to be down too, can't log into my account.

clewsy · 26-05-2015, 18:27

Surly this can't be linked to the downtime yesterday. You would expect and hope to be on totally different systems with no links between them.

Thine Wonk · 26-05-2015, 19:01

Update...

Quote:

Hi guys, So we have just confirmed that there is an issue with one of the pieces of equipment we use, the back up piece was unable to take the load as a result of failure from the first piece, and so also shut down. The good news is that engineers have been dispatched to the site. So sit tight and hopefully we will be able to get everything up and running as soon as possible.

So they don't check that their load balancers or whatever can cope or do any fail over tests?

It is a comedy of errors now...from memory it has been something like..

Sunday giffgaff.com down then the community pages down
Monday community down again and the networks down
Tuesday web servers down again so users can't login!

Giffgaff have confirmed it was a DDOS now in a forum post.

moox · 26-05-2015, 19:30

It'd be interesting to know why the network failed though.

It's a shame that big companies generally aren't forthcoming on it. Even the BBC is good at doing it (if you FOI them they'll give you censored reports from their many subcontractors, still descriptive enough though).

Perhaps there's the argument that it's for security reasons, but saying "the/a HLR broke, a building caught fire" etc isn't a huge risk IMO

Thine Wonk · 26-05-2015, 19:54

I know exactly why they do it, because when you announce details everyone asks lots more questions and wants to start getting involved. As a service provider you are paid to provide the service and if you don't people can moan, but releasing specifics doesn't gain anything and only prolongs the press attention if the RCA is released later. Generally they won't want to drag it up again by announcing something negative days after.

Airing your dirty laundry... There are some exceptions like the Voda one, they were doing maintenance at 1DC when the other was burgled, nobody could really blame them for that one so I guess it was easier for them to release the information.

lightspeed2398 · 26-05-2015, 20:24

As much as I'd never personally go on them, it would help restore trust in some people that they've found the issue, if they then also give a complete plan as to how they're fixing it . I work in business continuity at an organisation that has the contract with o2, fun times, although I'm at leave so I didn't have to do anything last night but I know at least that it's work for me because I have to now check that in the future is there anything to learn from it, I hope they're doing the same.

Thine Wonk · 26-05-2015, 20:33

Their enterprise business customers are likely to be able to get an update on the issue, but it will have confidentiality clauses I'm sure.

ihatemarmite · 26-05-2015, 20:48

Tesco/O2 down all yesterday evening too. It's ok today. There was an apology on O2's website and a note saying they are investigating why it happened.

25-05-2015, 18:44	#26
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Quote: Originally Posted by wrexham103.4 Yeah O2 down too WHAT! You're joking?

25-05-2015, 18:46	#27
clewsy Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Midlands Posts: 2,860	Yes o2 reporting issues so looks like its affecting the parent as well. Let's hope they haven't been hacked.

25-05-2015, 18:47	#28
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	No service on my giffgaff sim.

25-05-2015, 18:49	#29
wrexham103.4 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 3,140	Quote: Originally Posted by Thine Wonk WHAT! You're joking? O2 phone here with no service for past hour. O2's Twitter is going mental with pissed off customers too.

25-05-2015, 18:57	#30
johnathome Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Pompey Posts: 1,068	Quote: Originally Posted by Thine Wonk No service on my giffgaff sim. Still getting a signal here in Portsmouth.

25-05-2015, 18:58	#31
clewsy Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Midlands Posts: 2,860	It seems certain masts. Just did a service status check and seems some masts reporting issues, others showing as fine. GG forum back online now.

25-05-2015, 19:04	#32
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	It can't be just a few local masts though as it's very widespread.

25-05-2015, 19:08	#33
Gigabit Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 2,887	Working fine here in Hampshire on O2...

25-05-2015, 19:12	#34
KieranDS Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 15,938	My works system runs on O2 and we've been having problems all day.

25-05-2015, 19:14	#35
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Quote: Originally Posted by Gigabit Working fine here in Hampshire on O2... Odd as giffgaff is down in Hampshire according to posters, mind you they are saying GG is down everywhere for all services. That might not apply to O2, which might just be down in certain places.

25-05-2015, 19:24	#36
doubledecks Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Worcestershire Posts: 175	Just made a call on my GG phone in Worcester no problems here

25-05-2015, 19:25	#37
Alan1981 Inactive Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 5,292	It's strange because me and my girlfriend's phone are both down. Yet my Uncle who lives 2 miles away is fine.

25-05-2015, 19:36	#38
psionic Forum Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Crystal Palace TX Posts: 19,702	Whatever is causing it doesn't appear to be affecting all users. Both GiffGaff and O2 seem to be working fine here so far. I'm probably tempting fate saying that !

25-05-2015, 19:43	#39
wrexham103.4 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 3,140	http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32878936 Bbc reporting it now

25-05-2015, 21:14	#40
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	The forums are back down again now, there's a message saying they have been taken down for maintenance.

26-05-2015, 17:26	#41
snukr Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 4,414	I've just tried to make a topup on giffgaff, after several unsuccessful attempts to log in, the website is now inaccessible.

26-05-2015, 17:57	#42
snukr Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 4,414	This is the latest from giffgaff. Most Recent Update 17:44 - 26 May 2015 Hi everyone, At 16:04 we noticed that there were some issues with the server and at 17:00 we decided to temporarily move the site on a redundancy server. In the meantime buying goodybags and tops ups through the website will not be available. Activations, ordering SIMs and logging in will not be available while O2 perform emergency maintenance. While the community is available, you wont be able to log in. If you are already logged in you should be okay.

26-05-2015, 18:08	#43
sills Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Kent Posts: 196	O2's own site seems to be down too, can't log into my account.

26-05-2015, 18:27	#44
clewsy Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Midlands Posts: 2,860	Surly this can't be linked to the downtime yesterday. You would expect and hope to be on totally different systems with no links between them.

26-05-2015, 19:01	#45
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Update... Quote: Hi guys, So we have just confirmed that there is an issue with one of the pieces of equipment we use, the back up piece was unable to take the load as a result of failure from the first piece, and so also shut down. The good news is that engineers have been dispatched to the site. So sit tight and hopefully we will be able to get everything up and running as soon as possible. So they don't check that their load balancers or whatever can cope or do any fail over tests? It is a comedy of errors now...from memory it has been something like.. Sunday giffgaff.com down then the community pages down Monday community down again and the networks down Tuesday web servers down again so users can't login! Giffgaff have confirmed it was a DDOS now in a forum post.

DS Forums

Oops, giffgaff outage

26-05-2015, 19:30	#46
moox Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 14,645	It'd be interesting to know why the network failed though. It's a shame that big companies generally aren't forthcoming on it. Even the BBC is good at doing it (if you FOI them they'll give you censored reports from their many subcontractors, still descriptive enough though). Perhaps there's the argument that it's for security reasons, but saying "the/a HLR broke, a building caught fire" etc isn't a huge risk IMO

26-05-2015, 19:54	#47
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	I know exactly why they do it, because when you announce details everyone asks lots more questions and wants to start getting involved. As a service provider you are paid to provide the service and if you don't people can moan, but releasing specifics doesn't gain anything and only prolongs the press attention if the RCA is released later. Generally they won't want to drag it up again by announcing something negative days after. Airing your dirty laundry... There are some exceptions like the Voda one, they were doing maintenance at 1DC when the other was burgled, nobody could really blame them for that one so I guess it was easier for them to release the information.

26-05-2015, 20:24	#48
lightspeed2398 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 1,325	As much as I'd never personally go on them, it would help restore trust in some people that they've found the issue, if they then also give a complete plan as to how they're fixing it . I work in business continuity at an organisation that has the contract with o2, fun times, although I'm at leave so I didn't have to do anything last night but I know at least that it's work for me because I have to now check that in the future is there anything to learn from it, I hope they're doing the same.

26-05-2015, 20:33	#49
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Their enterprise business customers are likely to be able to get an update on the issue, but it will have confidentiality clauses I'm sure.

26-05-2015, 20:48	#50
ihatemarmite Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 4,060	Tesco/O2 down all yesterday evening too. It's ok today. There was an apology on O2's website and a note saying they are investigating why it happened.