"Online Class Disconnected" Internet Outage at Over 7,700 Schools Due to KT Failure

Internet Access Disruption at Over 7,700 Schools in 12 Education Offices
34 Call Center Inquiries Received in 30 Minutes Due to Remote Class Connection Errors

As social distancing level 4 is applied, schools in Seoul have switched to remote classes. On the morning of the 14th, a teacher is conducting an online class in a 5th-grade classroom at an elementary school in Seoul. 2021.07.14.

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] "During online class, the connection was lost and even KakaoTalk didn't work, so I wanted to cry."

Due to a KT network outage, internet service was down at over 7,700 schools. Students attending remote classes via the KT network experienced inconvenience as they could not attend their classes.

On the 25th, the Ministry of Education announced that from 11:20 AM to 12:00 PM that day, 7,742 schools, kindergartens, and institutions in 12 education offices using the KT network (including parts of Seoul and Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam, Gwangju, Jeonbuk, Daejeon, Chungbuk, Jeju, and Daegu) experienced internet service disruptions.

Some students accessing public learning management systems such as e-Hakseupter operated by the Korea Education and Research Information Service and Online Class by the Korea Educational Broadcasting System via the KT network also experienced connection errors. During the 30 minutes, 34 outage reports were received at the e-Hakseupter call center.

Due to the KT internet and wireless network error, services such as NEIS, the self-diagnosis app, and the disaster recovery center also experienced disruptions. All have now been fully restored.

The Ministry of Education explained, "There was an outage in internet services accessing external sites, but dedicated lines such as the administrative network (internal network) were functioning normally," and added, "Since 12:44 PM, the KT network has been restored, and school internet services are operating normally."