Some questions I’ve wandered about that I’m not able to understand
1. How do they avoid data loss considering that the probability of interferance across such long distance is extremely high
2. How are those cables phisically supported, and built to be able to sustain damage by corrosion, abrasion, animals, tides, etc
3. Who builds them and how is it profitable
In: Engineering
1. It actually used to be very lossy and we’d compensate by using loud and slow signals. Today we use fiber optic lines that are crystal clear for thousands of miles.
2. The cables themselves are about an inch thick and most of that thickness is just protective coatings for a hair thin fiberoptic line. We do have to pull them up now and then to fix them but we can also tell where the break in the line is based on how long it takes light to bounce off the break.
3. Large and specialized private companies. The biggest 3 are Global Marine Group, Prysmian S.p.A, and Jan De Nul Group. As for the business model, whomever owns the cable can charge a fee on every bit sent through it.
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