American Idol network congestion expected Tuesday May 20 2003

Tue May 20 17:34:45 UTC 2003

Do you have your GETS card handy?  Also Bill Woodcock's INOC-DBA IP Phone
network is separate from the telephone network, and would not be affected
by the same congestion.

"We built our network to be strong enough to survive a hurricane, flood or
other natural disaster, but it is also flexible enough to adapt to enable
our technicians to handle a surge in calls due to a radio call-in contest,
rock concert ticket sale or American Idol voting," said Wiskocil.
    While the company's network is designed to handle heavy call volumes,
the initial surge when millions of SBC customers pick up their telephones
simultaneously as the voting lines open this Tuesday, May 20th could cause
some callers to experience a "fast busy" signal, as the network provides
far more than the usual number of customers with a dial tone to place
their calls.
Wiskocil explains: "If callers hear a fast busy signal on Tuesday night,
we encourage them to hang up and try their call again in a little while.
Our network experts have advised that if callers can wait approximately 30
minutes after the show ends, they will most likely get through on the
first try."

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK6.story&STORY=/www/story/05-20-2003/0001950245&EDATE=TUE+May+20+2003,+05:20+AM
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8063525&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=31007&rfi=6