How is the Internet connected?!

[peanut_butter]

Hello, this is a rather random question and I wasn't sure which forum to ask it in (so please move it if it shouldn't be here) but I was interested to know how the Internet is connected.. specifically between continents? Searching for the question on Google hasn't really answered my question.

I gather within a country you mainly have fiber-optical cables as the backbone (or at least that's what I assume)... but how does so much data get between continents so quickly? I'm aware that satellites are used, but surely they don't transmit all the data?

Are there a physical cables that cross oceans?! It just doesn't seem feasible, but then neither does using satellites!

Hope someone can explain this =)

Thanks

[Lee H]

Are there a physical cables that cross oceans?! It just doesn't seem feasible

Thanks

Yes there are there was a brilliant show on discovery about the fibre optic cables connecting continents and how they are repaired.

For a good read up on this, please check the following link ;

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=o...age&q=&f=false

[Moby-Dick]

have this

[Funkstar]

If those maps weren't so blindlingly expensive, I would order a set myself. They are awesome

Here are some others that you may find interesting: http://images.google.co.uk/images?cl...ed=0CBwQsAQwAw

[peanut_butter]

Thanks for the info guys - very interesting.

[abaxas]

[schmunk]

Are there a physical cables that cross oceans?! It just doesn't seem feasible, but then neither does using satellites!
Thanks

Not a new invention...

[schmunk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers

[watercooled]

I also find this very interesting and I've done a bit of research into it myself. Both satellites and submarine cables are used but satellites generally have a much lower throughput and have a very high latency compared to cables. Here's some more pics/web pages which might be of interest to you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submari...nication_cable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transat...elephone_cable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...cations_cables
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...cations_cables
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_layer
http://personalpages.manchester.ac.u...as/cables.html
http://www.caida.org/tools/visualiza...net/Backbones/



I'll post more as I find it.

[WhiteGiant]

Moby, that is seriously impressive, thanks for the pic!

[Champman99]

Interesting Topic.

Who actually funds these massive projects, and how do they profit from them. I mean do ISPs pay for data to cross them? Then again I still dont really understand how ISPs work!

My guess: Magic

[Singh400]

Is there a nice looking version of these bandwidth maps that I could have professionally prinited and hung on my wall? I love them!

[malfunction]

Sort of related broadband adoption maps here:

http://www.akamai.com/html/technology/dataviz5.html

[Zak33]

/\ all of the information above is, possibly, pure fiction.

There is a conspiracy theory that the cabling is nothing like that at all, and that it's a much more basic system, and that's why the Web slows down so often.

Let's look at the data stream from the US to the UK and Europe

Behind closed doors (tall ones), there is a massive tower, intensely strong and very tall... it's just off the west coast of Ireland

Off the east coast of the State's is a similar tower... the rigidity of these towers cannot be over emphasised because they have to hold a cable under intense pressure to keep the cabe taught...

and the technology looks like this

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[watercooled]

Is there a nice looking version of these bandwidth maps that I could have professionally prinited and hung on my wall? I love them!

Yeah I'd like one too but they are pretty expensive. I'll try and dig up the URL of a store I found them on a while ago.

Yes there are there was a brilliant show on discovery about the fibre optic cables connecting continents and how they are repaired.

Do you know if this show is available on the website or something?

[Funkstar]

Who actually funds these massive projects, and how do they profit from them. I mean do ISPs pay for data to cross them? Then again I still dont really understand how ISPs work!

Not directly, but even small ISPs will be resting capacity off the larger ones along with telecoms companies, they are the ones investing in the cable. Some countries governments will also pay for them in some cases, usually to kick start investment in communications for example.