I hope IB offers an explanation & apology to all affected --
Why? Sheesh. Some of you folks are pathetic. Like little children. Shit happens. Deal with it. You were told what the problem was. The problem's been fixed. If you can't deal with these kinds of issues then find another line of work.
Quote from SethArb: just wanted to report that
A: have been able to log in and execute as of 30 minutes ago
B: HK office was very courteous and helped me execute an order when I was unable to log in to my IB acct
It's not free anymore, and IIRC, international calls weren't free last year either. I have some Skype credit, although I think international calls cost more .. too lazy to look it up now