Internet access in the National University of Singapore was disrupted on Aug. 29, following a temporary outage of the university’s Internet server. While some users were completely unable to access external websites, most users generally experienced a considerable lag in their Internet access as a result of the disruption.

According to an email sent out by the NUS Computer Centre, the service disruption lasted approximately 18 hours before being restored at 5 a.m. on Aug. 30.

Tommy Hor, director of the NUS Computer Centre, said this is the longest Internet service outage NUS has experienced.

“I would say, in terms of the duration, it is the longest we have experienced,” Hor said.

According to Hor, the disruption was caused by a surge in the amount of incoming web traffic flowing through the NUS server. He added that incoming connections from some online activities, such as peer-to-peer file sharing, have been identified as the causes of the network congestion.

Hor said the disruption affected every computer connected to the Internet via the university’s server. For example, users within the premises of NUS experienced a significant lag in their Internet access when browsing external websites. Some users were not able to access external websites at all.

“What the users will encounter is that access to the internet is intermittently slow,” he said. “And because of the congestion, the performance [of the Internet] is erratic.”

Some users, particularly those staying in hostels, had no other source of Internet access on campus.

Tan Kah Onn, a second-year computer engineering major and a resident of Raffles Hall, said he could not use the Internet properly throughout the disruption period.

“I encountered Internet disruptions, as I couldn’t get through to the websites. The web pages kept loading halfway,” Tan said.

However, Tan said his experience was less serious compared to his friends.

“For me it doesn’t really matter because I can still access [the Internet],” he said. “My roommate encountered more trouble because the disruption was so serious that he couldn’t even access the Internet every time he tried to log on.”

Chew Suen Chi, a third-year life science major and a resident of Kent Ridge Hall, said the Internet service disruption affected her significantly.

“The most serious inconvenience would be when I need to access my external Gmail account to check my mails, but I could only access the NUS websites,“ Chew said. “I felt very annoyed.”

The Internet service outage in NUS also affected the work routines of some users.

Kenneth Goh, a third-year communications and new media major, said he could not do his work properly in school during the period of service downtime.

“I had to work from home instead of working in school, where it was more convenient for me with everything around,” Goh said. “Now I have to split my work and do some of it at home instead.”

While some users were unhappy with the Internet service disruption, others were glad the NUS Computer Centre promptly informed them of the problem through an email circular.

Wong Yee Fang, a fourth-year real estate major, said she would not have known what the problem was if not for the circular.

“I initially thought it was a problem with my computer,” Wong said. “I thought it was good that they tried explaining the outage to us.”

Hor said the NUS Computer Centre eventually restored the university’s Internet access by working closely with NUS’s Internet service provider, Singtel.

Hor also said the NUS Computer Centre is taking precautionary measures to reduce the probability of another outage. He said the most effective measure is to identify the problem sources of incoming traffic and to work with Singtel to block those connections.

“So what we’re trying to do is that in the future, we establish some understanding, a SOP [Standard Operating Procedure], with our service provider so that we can respond to it [the outage] fast,” he said.

Users who have enquires regarding the Internet service outage in NUS may contact IT Care at 6516 2080, or email them at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .