Yougen Sun, business consultant and night trader in Beijing:

Things began to go wrong between 3 and 4 am today (Wednesday) before I gave up and logged off. In the morning, the building management staff told me about the problem with the cable system, based on information they had got from China Netcom. I don't know when I can resume normal trading again.

But I learnt one lesson: The first is that with so much development, Asia cannot afford to be complacent. The infrastructure here is still weak, so let's face it and fix it.

Chen Fan, an editor of an Internet-based global news digest service:

It's been a slow day, so slow that it was limited to a small pool of available sources and difficult to cross check.

The breakdown of MSN system has created additional chaos. I used to keep talking with other writers while I am working. Now it's impossible.

Lin Jiashu, a technology journalist and frequent blogger:

It's like suddenly things went all blank. At 3:30 am, my iTunes stopped downloading podcast programmes, and YouTube failed, too. It took an uncomfortably long waiting just to open The New York Times, website which I visit daily.

More than 80 per cent of the websites I visit are English ones. They help me keep up with the latest trend in the ever-changing technology world. So once you find yourself disconnected with those vital sources, and frankly the rest of the world, you get anxious.

I was unable to publish because my blog's server is located in the US.

Zhang Liang, 27, English editor at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business:

It's tragedy because I read Financial Times and write a blog on MSN Live Space.

But not just myself, the whole office is worried about the loss of connection. It does affect our work, although the degree varies from one individual to another. But the basic problem is the same: No one could get on MSN or access overseas websites that we do every day.

Gloria Chao, marketing executive for a Shanghai-based Taiwan company:

My family lives in northern Taiwan, so they were not affected. I called them, and the telephone line worked OK. But I could not get on either MSN or Yahoo all day.

It's ironic that the old technology of the telephone turns out to be more reliable in such a situation.

Chang Chihpeng, a Taiwanese television producer based in Beijing:

It has been hard to get on many Taiwan-based websites. Some of them wouldn't allow me to post anything or were very slow to respond.

(China Daily 12/28/2006 page2)