Thread by @_bjb

A breakdown of the Myanmar data blockage and the eSIM bypass

On Feb 1, internet levels in Myanmar dropped by 75%. @netblocks has been tracking the outages since then, with updates on this: blogpost: netblocks.org/reports/intern…

My involvement comes as I run the travel data eSIM website called esim2fly.com. The site is a simple Wordpress / Woo-commerce build running on a $20 Singapore @digitalocean droplet. We have had a trickle of sales to due the global reduction in travel.

#eSIMs are digital SIM cards for those with an iPhone Xr and newer or modern Android device, you can add a SIM card with a simple scan of a QR code. This means these eSIMs can be delivered via email or text message, across borders.

The SIM2Fly is a product of @ais_thailand and data traffic is routed thru Thailand and out of AIS ISP in Bangkok while roaming on either @ooredoo_mm or @mpt_sim networks in #Myanmar

To monitor #eSIM sales I have an app with notifications that alert on any sales. On Feb 6th sales started creeping up, and my first thought was that a fraud event was in progress. Up on inspection it was clear most names were of #Myanmar origin.

At about noon on Feb 7th, order pace had started again, and I dove in the Google Analytics to try and understand the source. A simple Facebook post in a Myanmar group seemed to be the source of traffic.

Pretty soon sales were coming in a a rapid pace not seen before.

Facebook help tickets grew and number and site responsiveness became an issue. We deliver the QR code product via email and our paid MSP @Mail_Gun blocked our sending as it was “too fast”. This meant more help tickets and slower response times.

By 4pm Sunday, I could no longer access my site. I recruited my 11 year old daughter to try and reply to help tickets, while I went began a droplet upgrade and posting a video to customers on our Facebook page.

The droplet resize when fine, but did not auto restart the server - another 30 mins of downtime!

After coming back online, we saw a light at the end of the tunnel - we would be out of stock soon! Called our supplier, but it was Sunday.

After we sold our remaining stock, we performed triage on the remaining help tickets. By the time I was able to step away from the computer at 7pm we had moved 250 eSIMs, and dinner was cold.
On Monday, AIS told it it would be 2 weeks to get more stock.

Feb 10th, however they came thru with the order and thankfully @esim2fly is now back in stock, and giving users in #Myanmar the option to get a data connection via data roaming.

The military can cut all data communications, but cutting roaming data roaming agreements is a slap in the face of international agreements, a move the Myanmar military may not wish to shine a light on. Customers of SIM2Fly are @ais_thailand customers and Thai ISP rules apply.