London bombings: UK cell congestion, but VoIP "not affected"

On a terrible day such as today, when nearly 40 people died and 750 were injured in a series of coordinated subway and bus bombings in London, we knew that Internet and phone traffic is going to spike.

The reasons are obvious. Communications networks get swamped with "are you OK," "I''' OK," or simply, "did you hear about..." type emails and phone calls.

In fact, our UK-based sister site Silicon.com reports that according to security company MessageLabs, European email traffic monitored by the company doubled within an hour after the attacks began.

And, the (Toronto) Globe and Mail reported most UK cell carriers experienced significant amounts of network congestion, and at least twice the normal daily call volume.

But VoIP? The same G&M piece noted: "High-speed Internet services and voice-over IP phones weren't affected by the increased network traffic volumes, British carriers said.