
Although most people aren't aware of it, buried in the telecommunication
tariffs are a set of network preemption procedures.  In event of an
federal emergency, any working telecommunication circuit can be
preempted to restore an emergency circuit.  In event of an federal
emergency, restoration priorities are set by the government, not the
carrier.  Specific circuits must be restored first, before customer
circuits.  The carrier is supposed to alert you when they need to
preempt your circuit, but inability to contact you won't slow them
down.

Once again, ISPs shouldn't take action before being requested.  If
your circuits are prempted, the carrier has a schedule of which circuits
to restore first.

TCG (ATT Local Service), Sprint and Verizon had equipment located
in the World Trade Center towers.  Most service was delivered
locally to the towers, but some intra and inter city loops passed
through the facilities.  Carriers are reporting several hundred
local loops impacted in New York City.  Most inter-city and backbone
circuits appear to have already been re-routed.

A lot of European circuits pass through the area, but at this time,
all appear to be operating or have already be re-routed.

The electrical grid sustained some damage near the world trade center.
Most providers in the area have 8 hours of battery or generator.  A
couple of providers have issued warnings there may be service
disruptions if batteries are generators run down.



