Live365 Down Due to Connectivity Problems
Listeners and broadcasters of Foster City-based Live365.com (www.live365.com) discovered on Monday that the Web site and all streams are down due to a problem with the company's bandwidth provider.
According to the company, the problem is the connection between its bandwidth provider Cogent Communications and its ISP. Calls to Live365 were not returned by press time. A recorded message on Live365's main phone line says the company hopes to be back online within 24 to 48 hours, however.
The entire Web site is down except for a one-page placeholder alerting customers to the shutdown. The message on the site reports that Live365's servers and data are safe. "Yes, it's still driving us crazy and YES we are still here trying to find another solution. We hope it will be up and running again very soon," read the message on the Web site.
Jeff Henrickson, director of marketing at Cogent Communications said that he was aware of the Live365.com shutdown but said that the company wasn't a "direct customer" of Cogent. He said that Cogent "shut down" Live365's service provider because of "multiple violations" of its Acceptable Use Policy. Henrickson refused to say what the violations were, however, or to identify Live365's service provider. "[Live365] has been in contact with us about getting connectivity directly from us," he said.
Since information is hard to come by, one of Live365 customers, named Zebby Rhoads, turned his own personal Web site, into an emergency information site to monitor the status of the Live365 shutdown. Rhoads, who is a Live365 Forum moderator, said in an e-mail that the Live365 site is running off a "little box" from the company's offices.
Many customers and listeners have been without their favorite streaming radio stations since Monday's shutdown. Live365 has over 30,000 programmed radio stations ranging from amateurs to terrestrial radio stations.
The problems raised an alarm in the industry since there were rumors in early July that Live365.com was shutting down. As the company was laying off staff that week, one ex-employee sent an e-mail to colleagues and mistakenly said that Live365 was shutting down. Rumors were squelched quickly, however, after official words from the company.