London's GSM networks cope with heavy traffic

[ShoresGuy]

Mobile networks bear blast calls

Mobile phone networks are returning to normal after initial spikes of traffic as news spread of the latest four blasts across London.

Vodafone, the largest network, told the BBC News website that it had seen "significantly higher call volumes" than usual following the incidents.

But it, as well as the other main operator networks, had returned to a "normal service".

Police have called for anyone with mobile images or video to e-mail them.

They have asked that anyone with images relevant to the incident should send them through the www.police.uk website, or send the photos via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) to 07734 282 288.

London's Tube network was thrown into chaos with stations cleared after the blasts on trains and a bus.

Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair said three Tube lines were suspended but that London was getting back to business.

The incidents came just two weeks after four blasts, three on the London Underground system and one on a bus, killed 56 people.

Text only

Earlier in the day, a spokesperson said Vodafone had advised people in London to avoid making unnecessary calls, and to send text messages instead.

While some networks noticed the increase in call traffic others, such as T-Mobile, told the BBC News website that it was still business as usual.

A spokesperson said that it had experienced "none of the congestion" that it had faced two weeks ago.

The 3G video phone network, 3, told the BBC News website that, like others, it had registered a spike in calls after the blasts, but that the network was back to normal.

It was currently investigating whether there had been any particular change in video traffic sent over the network, however.

A spokesperson from Orange there was a "slight increase" of calls made on the network directly after the latest incidents, but that levels were now back to normal.

The strain, he added, was "nowhere near" as significant as the levels it saw two weeks ago following the attacks.

O2 reported a high volume of calls in the London area following reports of the blasts. It too advised people not to make unnecessary calls.

Both Vodafone and T-Mobile said they had not received any requests from authorities to prioritise traffic or to shut down any part of the mobile network.

Directly following the incidents two weeks ago in London, mobile phone images and videos flooded into news websites, as well as blogs and photo sharing websites.

Within a short time after the blasts were reported, photos from people caught up in police cordons started to appear once more in groups which had been set up on the photo sharing community site, Flickr, to pool the images from two weeks ago.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4704359.stm

[Andy]

Everyone must have been on their phones calling home/loved ones, because IMO it's hard to push most mobile networks in Europe to capacity. I've never seen it happen.

[danny boi]

ABC News repoted mobile users in London were experiencing dropped calls and system busy messages for a while after the initial blasts a couple of weeks ago.

[ShoresGuy]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

Everyone must have been on their phones calling home/loved ones, because IMO it's hard to push most mobile networks in Europe to capacity. I've never seen it happen.

This depends on how the network resources are allocated at that point in time. In the July 7th attacks, all of the UK networks gave capacity priority to the fire and police departments.

[bobolito]

So now what? Are they going to shut down service in the Lincoln and Holland tunnels again?

[RJB]

That is alot of people on a call sheesh.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by ShoresGuy

This depends on how the network resources are allocated at that point in time. In the July 7th attacks, all of the UK networks gave capacity priority to the fire and police departments.

And there were TONS of police and fire people talking on their phone, so this is no surprise. usually, though, capacity is never a problem in Europe.

[twopiece]

Originally Posted by bobolito

So now what? Are they going to shut down service in the Lincoln and Holland tunnels again?

Wasn't service suspended for a few days in the tunnels after the initial bombings? People complained that they wouldn't be able to call 911 in an emergency so they restored it a couple of days later.

[ShoresGuy]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

And there were TONS of police and fire people talking on their phone, so this is no surprise. usually, though, capacity is never a problem in Europe.

It's only a problem around New Year's when people all try to send an SMS right at midnight . I had that happen to me in 2004 when I couldn't send any SMS until 5 minutes after midnight.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by ShoresGuy

It's only a problem around New Year's when people all try to send an SMS right at midnight . I had that happen to me in 2004 when I couldn't send any SMS until 5 minutes after midnight.

i guess that might happen since Europeans are even crazier than Americans in sending SMS

[ShoresGuy]

Yeah, I don't doubt that there is a bunch of Europeans who try to send as many SMS as they can type within the first few minutes of every new year .