Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

Dev.SN ♥ developers

posted by janrinok on Wednesday March 05 2014, @12:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the If-you-laid-all-the-cables-end-to-end dept.

dotdotdot writes:

"All of the fiber-optic cables buried in the sea bed are logged by Washington research firm Telegeography in an interactive Submarine Cable Map. The company's research director Alan Mauldin told CNN about the world's underwater networks."

From the interview:

for international communications, over 99% is delivered by undersea cables.

75% of faults are due to external aggression the majority through human activity such as fishing, and ship's anchors.

There are about 13 cables in service across the Atlantic, and less than 20% of potential capacity is what we call "lit" or in service right now.

cables are designed to last for a minimum 25 years.

Once you build a cable the cost of buying capacity incrementally over time is very affordable.

The last cable across the Pacific cost $300 million; one cable that entered service last year in Asia reaching many locations cost $400 million

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by TK on Wednesday March 05 2014, @02:44PM

    by TK (2760) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @02:44PM (#11451)

    I'm surprised that Tasmania has three separate connections to mainland Australia, but New Zealand's South Island doesn't have any.

    Also impressive is the length of the cable from Quebec to Alaska, and then on to Japan. I suppose that must have been cheaper than forging an internet pipeline across land, and all the little lakes in between.

    --
    The fleas have smaller fleas, upon their backs to bite them, and those fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Interesting=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday March 05 2014, @05:28PM

    by EvilJim (2501) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @05:28PM (#11527)

    NZ's south island also only has one phone area code whereas the north has a heap. probably due to population dispersion. Plus we probably have our own cables between north and south which are nothing to do with the company in question. - only speculation here.