Eli5: Why are fiber optic cables still used if we can use satellites for communication?

Question

Pardon my lack of knowledge about this.

In: 11

Answer 1

Fiber optics are capable of *far* more bandwidth than even the fastest satellites. Without fiber optics we wouldn’t be able to handle nearly the volume of data that we do. Satellites are also subject to space weather (and occasionally normal weather) disruption, fiber optics are essentially immune except for the occasional backhoe blade.