Hawaiian ILEC infrastructure and fire

Thu Aug 17 18:05:30 UTC 2023

> On Aug 17, 2023, at 1:55 PM, TJ Trout <tj at pcguys.us> wrote:
> 
> I'm familiar with the island, it's it's puzzling that the major 3 cell carriers would accept a single point of failure like that, you would think they had microwave backup at minimum. Maybe it was a generator issue. 
> 

It’s common for a lot of cell backhaul to be on poles because it’s seen as cheap and easy to repair, except when you have a lot of failures at once, and I’m guessing replacement poles require a bit more effort to get there like everything else.

I’m reminded of the fiber routes in/out of Madrid where they are all (largely) on a single route.  There is a diverse route but it’s $$$ and some providers don’t want to pay for it.

There’s a number of towns in the US that don’t even have any fiber connectivity at all, the voice/data come in via licensed links.

It’s also common that something is missed or gets groomed off a diverse path without your knowledge.  Seen this many times.

- Jared