UK Virgin Users suffer Connection Failure After Mishap

[GhostShip]

It looks like a mini disaster is being handled by Virgin Media, so far no one has complained too loudly 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7149931.stm

Thousands of Virgin Media customers have had their broadband disconnected following problems with a routine maintenance procedure.
The problem hit customers nationwide on Monday night, with some customers re-connected within 10 minutes, while others had to wait several hours.
Virgin Media has said it is does not know how many of its 3.6 million broadband customers were hit overall.
A spokesman said Virgin was working to reconnect the remaining "few thousand".

The problem was caused when the routine maintenance caused Virgin's set-top boxes and modems to lose their "leased" IP address, the unique number that identifies them on the internet.
The set-top boxes and modems automatically attempted to "renew" the lease, but demand for potentially hundreds of thousands of new IP addresses hit Virgin's own routers which handle the requests.

The problem hit not just broadband connections, but also the firm's on demand and interactive services, which are delivered over the net.
A spokesman for Virgin Media advised customers to re-start their modems and set-top boxes.

Lets hope those still affected are restored to "good health" soon and Virgin improve procedures to ensure they can be perhaps a little more robust in the future when the mess hits the fan.

[Lagerlout666]

lol ah well you can hardly blame them, we all know stuff happens and its a pain the arse to loose your internet but ah well, Least they know how to fix it, ive been looking for a new broadband package and when you fins a customer, then type problems after their name, i can assure virgin, apart from the usual i dont know how to set my router up problems ar very low on the list of disaster providers. Its a shame i dont have cable where i live as they prob would have been a first choice.