A giant undersea cable makes the Internet a split-second faster
@CNNMoneyTech March 30, 2012: 6:32 AM ET
This article explains what undersea cables are and why they
exist. People are able to connect to websites and Skype with people that are
hosted on the complete opposite side of the world because of these undersea
cables. They are fiber-optic cables that are the same size as the cords for any
home broadband connection and are stretched across the bottom of the pacific,
Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, as well as through the Suez Canal, across the
Mediterranean Sea, and around the costs of Africa and South America. Tata, and
Indian telecom company, is one of the world’s largest subsea cable companies.
They provide 130,500 miles of fiber cables sitting at the bottom of the ocean.
That is enough to circle the planet five times, and also it takes a ship six
weeks to only load the cables for the voyage. The point of the cables is to
provide fast internet connection speeds and it is a safety to ensure the
Internet will not go down. Some benefits of subsea cables are that they are
protected from destructivity, such as wind, trees, and storms. They do not
require massive towers to carry them, like the ones on land do, and they can be
left untouched for a quarter century after being placed on the ocean floor.
Some cables in shallow water, though, do get cut. They are accidentally clipped
by anchors from ships about twice a year. To tend to this problem, the cables
have a GPS built into them and there are companies who are on the clock 24/7 that
are readily available to make repairs. A complete cost of the project has not
been calculated, but it is said that the construction of an arctic cable that links
Asia, North America, and Europe is estimated to cost $1.5 billion. Although it
may seem like a lot of money, this network of cables ensures that the internet
will never fail and also that the snapping of one cable will still allow you to
play games such as Words with Friends with all your friends across the globe.
I believe that the undersea cables are a great idea. They
are a smart way to make the Internet accessible everywhere in the world with
minimal damages to the cables and the environment. I do not see any
disadvantages to the idea of cables on the ocean floor, other than the high
costs and time it takes to lay them across ocean floors all over the world. The
cost, though, to me and probably most of the world, is worth the benefits that
the world gains from the undersea network of fiber-optic cables.
I think that these underwater cables have both their advantages and their disadvantages. A few of the advantages as you have pointed out include: never losing a connection while on the internet, also the connection speed of programs such as Skype, which allows users to connect instantaneously to somebody who is around the world, would be better and the signal may not fail as often. Another huge advantage that would come from the placement of these wires would be in the Business Sector. Businesses are continuously doing business overseas and need to be able to communicate with people all over the globe. These wires would greatly enhance this and cause less problems with communication. But there are some disadvantages, Such as what if a wire does break, how much is it going to cost to repair these wires. Someone would have to actually go down to the exact spot where the line is broken to diagnose and repair the issues, so not only is it going to cost 1.5 billion to put these wires in but then you have to pay for repairs on the wires and also have to pay for people to monitor the condition of the wired, which would get expensive. In my opinion I think that the wire is a cost inefficient idea that should not be implemented.
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