Internet outages reveal gaps in broadband infrastructure

When vandals sliced a fiber-optic cable in the Arizona desert last month, they did more than time-warp thousands of people back to an era before computers, credit cards or even phones. They exposed a glaring vulnerability in the nation’s Internet infrastructure: no backup systems in many places.

Because Internet service is largely unregulated by the federal government and the states, decisions about network reliability are left to the service providers. Industry analysts say these companies generally do not build alternative routes, or redundancies, unless they believe it is worthwhile financially.

The result: While most major U.S. metropolitan areas have backup systems, some smaller cities and many rural areas do not. “The more rural the location, the more likely that there’s only one road in and out of that location,” said one expert in the field.

– From news service reports