Tomorrow is the start of the emergency maintenance of the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) Submarine Cable, which is expected to last until September 30. PLDT has issued an advisory that overall internet speeds may be affected by this emergency maintenance. Here are some FAQs you need to know about the maintenance work:

• Other telcos are affected. The AAG is a 20,000-kilometer-long fiber optic cable network that connects the Philippines to the US. The submarine cable also covers Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Guam, Hawaii and the US West Coast, so the emergency maintenance work will affect a lot of internet subscribers: not just PLDT subscribers, not just the Philippines, but several countries as well.

• Internet connection will not be interrupted. While an emergency maintenance may sound like a call to panic especially to those whose lives are dependent on the internet, telco providers like PLDT assure that internet connectivity will still remain working. Everyone can still do their usual stuff (like write this FAQ article), though speeds may be slower than usual for the next 5 days.

• Telcos have backup plans. The AAG may be on emergency maintenance tomorrow until September 30 (it was delayed by a day), but that does not mean telco providers are fully dependent on it. In times like these, telco providers have alternate cable systems to ensure internet resiliency. Aside from alternate cable systems, telco providers also have other solutions like traffic rerouting and local caching to ensure everything is still as smooth as possible.

You can read more about the ongoing emergency maintenance activities here.