[info] stability guarantee

Late in June we updated our LNSs (the kit that connects to BT for broadband customers on 21CN) and ran in to a couple of issues. As a result we offered a "stability guarantee" providing a 1GB peak usage top-up on each login affected by an LNS crash during peak hours for each day it happened.

The new LNS code has been in development for several years and tested extensively, including with volunteers on real LN servers connected to BT along side the existing LNSs. Sadly some bugs only show up in real life and we have issued 4GB of top-up to affected customers earlier in July. The development team spent a lot of time tracking down the issues and resolving them properly.

Even though things are looking pretty stable now, we are continuing the guarantee. The only difference being that 20CN users could be affected as we are moving lines over to the new LNS as part of the IPSC upgrades in August, as well as regrading a lot of lines from 20CN to 21CN.

When an LNS crashed around 90% of lines came back in a minute or two and a few took 10 minutes. We are chasing this with BT anyway. It should not take a minute to reconnect let alone 10 minutes. Our LNS can reboot in under 1 second. We suspect bugs in BT BRASs for this.

We hope not to have to "pay out" on this guarantee, but it does still stand anyway just in case.

The new LNS code offers several advantages, especially for VoIP users.

We'd like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding.