Arrrgh! When Your EMail Host Goes Down

I don't know who to believe anymore, and I just don't care. I just want my email to go out. Today we had four newsletters scheduled to go out to various lists. Only one made it - and that's because it was sent by a partner of ours using their list host.

Our list host has been down all day. At first we just couldn't get into the server. Then we could get in, but the issue we sent through it never arrived anywhere. MIA. When I got through to a our host on the phone, they told me there was a massive Internet outage today - that as much as 59% of email in the US wasn't being delivered due to a "level 3" problem.

I hurriedly blogged it right here figuring that news affected everyone. Then I called a few other list hosting firms for quotes on how they were handling the crisis. They said, "What crisis?" I said, "Check with your techies." Their techies said, "What crisis?"

So I took the Blog down. In the meantime, reader Rich Miller at CarrierHotels.com emailed in that he had seen the Blog and done his own investigation. He said, "I run a site that covers Internet infrastructure, so today's post got my attention. We cover Level 3, the company [your list host] is publicly saying is responsible for their problems. I called Level 3's spokesperson, and they say they are having no problems with their network, and that [your list host] is wrong.

Not sure what to believe here. Internet Traffic Report shows problems, but another "live" measurement tool
(http://www.internethealthreport.com/) tells a completely different story, saying everything is fine."

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. Tech, arrrgh!

http://www.internethealthreport.com/
http://www.internettrafficreport.com