Internet users in Asia are faced with slow connection speeds after two powerful typhoons struck Hong Kong and Macau. Pic: Flickr/Allan Rotgers

Vietnam internet users will have to put up with slow connections for six days

By | 21 June, 2016

CABLE system maintenance will become the bane of the lives of netizens in Vietnam, as internet connection speeds are expected to slow to a painful pace from June 22 to 27.

The Asia America Gateway (AAG) cable system which connects Vietnam to the U.S. will be under maintenance, causing slow or disrupted connections to websites or online services hosted internationally.

The AAG is a 20,000 kilometer-long submarine communications cable system which crosses the Pacific Ocean via Guam and Hawaii.

According to tech newswire ICTNews, the crucial maintenance work will mostly affect netizens who subscribe to internet service providers such as VNPT, FTP, and Viettel, unless the providers have alternative systems to keep traffic moving.

Vietnamese newspaper Tuoi Tre News reports that internet traffic is severely affected whenever the AAG cable is damaged, even though the country is connected to four international submarine Internet cable systems including the AAG, Southeast Asia-MiddleEast-Western Europe 3 (SMW3), Thailand-Vietnam-Hong Kong (TVH), and Intra Asia (IA).

This is because the AAG has the biggest capacity out of the four. However, routine issues plague the country’s internet users, as the system broke twice in 2014, and three times in 2015.

Due to the problems, Vietnamese telecommunications firms and government agencies are building new cables to ensure a more dependable connection, reports Saigoneer.

The Asia Pacific Gateway, which will run at 54 terabytes per second over 10,400 kilometers between Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Hong Kong is expected to be in operation this year.

54 terabytes is a huge step up from the AAG’s current 2.88 terabytes. Another cable, the 25,000 kilometer Asia Africa Euro 1, is also planned to be put to use this year.



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