It battered parts of the US East coast, leaving many people without power and, in the worst cases, without homes. It also battered business and infrastructure.

Guess what is included in ‘infrastructure’? How about ‘Internet servers and routers’?

The Internet as a whole is quite resilient considering the amount of traffic which uses it, but as anybody living in a large metropolis will tell you, if one or several main arteries become congested or completely blocked, chaos follows and everybody’s drive to work or home can extend exponentially.

Such is it when parts of the Internet infrastructure fall over, and Hurricane Sandy has affected some of it. So, if you are wondering why access to websites is slow and email is going astray, you now know that it is NOT Microsoft’s fault…

To get an Internet Traffic Report, see here.. http://www.internettrafficreport.com/ 

Note too that indifferent service on one continent can affect others. Anything you send out may do a complete trip around the world before reaching its destination.