Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/02/19/bt_crash_cuts/

BT crash cuts 180,000 users off from Net

Dial-up service comes crashing down

By Tim Richardson

Posted in On-Prem, 19th February 1999 16:33 GMT

More than 180,000 users in the UK have been left stranded in limbo after BT's Internet dial-up service crashed this morning. The service failed at around 9.30am depriving people of access to their e-mail and the Web. BT Internet's home page (www.btinternet.com) was also affected by the technical glitch. According to BT, engineers are working to correct the problem, but a member of BT's telephone support staff said it would be lunchtime at the earliest before it's up and running again. "It's simply not good enough," said one irate BT Internet customer who agreed to be quoted as long as he wasn't named. "I depend on BT's Net access for my job yet I have lost a morning's work already -- who's to say I'm not going to be wiped out this afternoon as well?" He added that this was not the first time that the service has experienced problems. A representative of BT Internet -- which has more than 180,000 customers in the UK -- was asked to comment but failed to return the call before the story went to press. ®