KARACHI: On Sunday, at least two online resources refuted the government’s assertions of unbroken internet connectivity and detailed the numerous problems people had when attempting to access social media platforms.
Users had restricted or no access to a number of social media platforms on Sunday, according to Dawn’s analysis of data from these tools, which track network stability and keep an eye on internet disruptions in real time.
These interruptions persisted for hours, according to Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA), a technology created by the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Internet Intelligence Lab.
The network stayed steady at the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) level all day long, according to the program, which gauges internet connectivity and identifies outages “in near real-time.”
No widespread outage has been detected, according to a network expert, because BGP routes, which are distinct IDs assigned to major internet providers, are stable.
“Any disturbance in BGP stability signifies a network-wide problem, which typically arises due to a data center fire or a submarine cable malfunction,” the expert stated.
However, IODA reported internet disruption based on its analysis of traffic to Google services, even though the network was solid.
Online resources for monitoring internet outages Utilize traffic to well-known websites and services as a standard to assess a region’s internet reliability.
In order to identify any anomalies in internet access, IODA uses traffic from a geographic location that is directed to Google services, such as the search engine, YouTube, Gmail, etc.
Traffic to Google services from Pakistan was disrupted, according to IODA, between Saturday 10 p.m. and Sunday 8:30 a.m., and then from 1:30 p.m. until 6 p.m.
The expert informed Dawn that traffic to Google addresses is a measure of overall internet usage.
“A restriction [of the internet] is indicated, for instance, if a certain amount of traffic from Pakistan arrives at Google addresses every day and does not arrive today.”
According to the expert, the IODA data revealed “abnormally restricted” internet access between the two time intervals.
Outage on social media
Another program, Downdetector, confirmed the problems with Google service access that IODA had reported.
The program, which monitors social media website failures, found that users frequently complained about problems with YouTube and Gmail.
WhatsApp disruptions throughout the day were also noted by Downdetector, an analysis tool that relies on user complaints.
About 52% of users had problems sending messages, 27% with voice notes, and 21% with the application as a whole.
Throughout the day, users in Peshawar, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and other regions of the nation also complained about problems with Instagram and TikTok.
