Internet traffic in the UAE is being affected after a submarine cable linking Mumbai and Penang was cut yesterday, taking out four of Etisalat’s 19 links. E-Company marketing manager Farooq Hasan said broadband customers who use the net for gaming and peer-to-peer applications will be most affected. No indication was given as to when the problem would be rectified.

They did however plan for such an occasion. From an end user’s point of view — residential lines are slow but usuable for light web browsing. Interestingly some sites are lighting fast to load up, like google, while some others you’ll have to hit reload a few times to get to. I guess it is the mirroring factor. Messenger was usuable on and off and things have steadly improved as they bring even more backup links online. I can’t confirm this, but I believe bussiness links / leased lines seem to have been give priority over the bandiwdth from the start.