Cyclone Vardah disrupts internet services in India; banks and payment gateways also affected

**Cyclone Vardah** has been wreaking havoc in Tamil Nadu, and internet service providers are now sending out alerts to their customers about disruptions in service. The connectivity problems are apparently caused because of the Cyclone affecting two major internet gateways in India. Apart from the gateway located at Chennai itself, the other major gateway affected seems to be the one in Agartala, which opened earlier this year , to boost the capacity and improve speeds. [caption id=“attachment_352603” align=“aligncenter” width=“507”]  A message sent out to customers of You Broadband[/caption] You Broadband, a leading supplier of internet services in South India has sent out a message to customers alerting them of a problem of slow speeds. The alert acknowledges a slow down in services, and attributes the slow speeds to internet gateways affected by the cyclone. In replies to queries by customers on slow speeds, Vodafone has replied that services are disrupted because of the cyclone. Many customers who reached out to Vodafone over Twitter are getting similar responses. https://twitter.com/VodafoneIN/status/808598672086798336 https://twitter.com/VodafoneIN/status/808598673710055424 https://twitter.com/VodafoneIN/status/808598675253579777 Users have taken to Twitter to point out the slow speeds. Connectivity for both wired and wireless broadband services seem to be affected. https://twitter.com/itsdamslife/status/808594130804752384 https://twitter.com/roshanpolekar/status/808371163315531777 Other service providers, including Airtel and Hathway have alerted their subscribers to potential issues with internet speeds. It’s also been reported that banking sites were unable to process transactions for many hours and that Air India struggled with MasterCard transactions. A disruption in internet services can slow down the recovery process. If you are experiencing slow internet connections, particularly in South India, then Cyclone Vardah is the reason.