Imagine all the boxes out there connecting to a server at one time and the server becomes overloaded. Now imagine going to MacDonald's at peak time and you find yourself looking at 4 lineups with another lineup outside for cars which somehow gets a priority due to the long line of cars. Everything starts down shifting with the grills, fryers and microwaves working full tilt but then the power kicks out and everything comes to a grinding halt. You're left in the dark, nobody knows what's going on and you're left trying to figure out if you're going to get served or not. This is the simple version of what might be going on but then with all those lines, servers, services and hardware between your box and the server, its anyone's guess and who's to say you'd be wrong ?