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Diwali SMS surge clogs networks: Hindustan Times
New Delhi, Nov 06: Happy Diwali. May God bless you with a bungalow in Golf Links, a Mercedes-Benz, Priyanka Chopra or Hrithik Roshan as your personal physical trainer, Shilpa Shetty or Sunny Deol as bodyguard and Salman Khan as driver.
New Delhi, Nov 06: Happy Diwali. May God bless you with a bungalow in Golf Links, a Mercedes-Benz, Priyanka Chopra or Hrithik Roshan as your personal physical trainer, Shilpa Shetty or Sunny Deol as bodyguard and Salman Khan as driver.
Well, not the last bit really.
But this greeting was among the nine million SMS messages that zipped across the airwaves on Diwali, sending Delhi’s mobile messaging highways into gridlock.
Did we say zipped? Actually the SMS surge slowed things to such a crawl that for the better part of Monday, users could only stare helplessly at their mobile phone screens that said: Message sending failed.
According to estimates, close to nine million SMS messages were exchanged by cell phone users in Delhi alone, with Airtel recording nearly 1.9 million messages on Monday. The previous day the number was around 1.4 million.
Hutch says it recorded SMS traffic of close to five million during the period. “That represents a 500 per cent jump over normal usage. Compared to last Diwali, New Year or Holi, the rush was unprecedented,” said Hutch officials. On a national basis, over 25 million messages were generated.
The problem was also accentuated by the tardiness of users in deleting ‘read’ messages and cleaning up the mailbox. That led to a pile up of messages at the network end. It was not just plain old ‘Happy Diwali’ text SMS. With flashing messages and picture messages with different ring tones fighting for airspace, the load on the networks got worse.
While users got sore thumbs, Delhi’s operators — who charge an average of Rs 1.50 per SMS — aren’t complaining. So the next time, do what you would to beat morning rush hour: the earlier you start, the better your chances of getting through.
Well, not the last bit really.
But this greeting was among the nine million SMS messages that zipped across the airwaves on Diwali, sending Delhi’s mobile messaging highways into gridlock.
Did we say zipped? Actually the SMS surge slowed things to such a crawl that for the better part of Monday, users could only stare helplessly at their mobile phone screens that said: Message sending failed.
According to estimates, close to nine million SMS messages were exchanged by cell phone users in Delhi alone, with Airtel recording nearly 1.9 million messages on Monday. The previous day the number was around 1.4 million.
Hutch says it recorded SMS traffic of close to five million during the period. “That represents a 500 per cent jump over normal usage. Compared to last Diwali, New Year or Holi, the rush was unprecedented,” said Hutch officials. On a national basis, over 25 million messages were generated.
The problem was also accentuated by the tardiness of users in deleting ‘read’ messages and cleaning up the mailbox. That led to a pile up of messages at the network end. It was not just plain old ‘Happy Diwali’ text SMS. With flashing messages and picture messages with different ring tones fighting for airspace, the load on the networks got worse.
While users got sore thumbs, Delhi’s operators — who charge an average of Rs 1.50 per SMS — aren’t complaining. So the next time, do what you would to beat morning rush hour: the earlier you start, the better your chances of getting through.