How Much Data Travels Undersea?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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In fact,

99%

of data travels this way. Today, there are over 420 submarine cables in service, stretching over 700,000 miles (1.1 million km) around the world.

Does the internet travel underwater?

Have you ever wondered how internet traffic flies around the world?

99% of it travels through fiber optics cables under the sea

. That’s your internet telephone conversation, your instant messages, your email and your website visits, all making their way beneath the world’s oceans.

How fast is the internet under the ocean?

In 2018, the Marea cable began operating between Bilbao, Spain, and the US state of Virginia, with transmission speeds of up to

160 terabits per second

– 16 million times faster than the average home internet connection.

Is internet connected by undersea cable or satellite?

It might surprise you that about 99% of our internet and voice communication is transmitted by

undersea fiber optic cables

. It is only in the past few years that satellite communication became a viable option to provide significant network capacity in the future.

What happens if an undersea cable breaks?

Once the break is located,

a cable ship is dispatched to repair

. All they have to do is brave the weather, pirates, and sea creatures for a successful fix. To stay on station during repairs, cable lay and repair vessels are fitted with dynamic positioning systems.

How does the internet get across the ocean?

Currently 99% of the data traffic that is crossing oceans is carried by

undersea cables

. The reliability of submarine cables is high, especially when (as noted above) multiple paths are available in the event of a cable break.

How internet is created?


ARPANET adopted TCP/IP on January 1, 1983, and from there researchers began to assemble the “network of networks” that became the modern Internet

. The online world then took on a more recognizable form in 1990, when computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web.

Are there internet cables in the ocean?


Google and Facebook are invested in dozens of subsea internet cable projects around the world

. Laying these cables takes months of preparation, and specialized vessels take them out to sea. Once laid, the cables can ferry huge quantities of internet data around the globe. See more stories on Insider’s business page.

How deep does the ocean go down?

The average depth of the ocean is about

3,688 meters (12,100 feet)

. The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam.

Who owns the internet cables in the ocean?

The approximately 400 publicly disclosed undersea cable systems (both existing and planned) are mostly owned and operated by

telecommunications companies

. More recently, however, large Internet companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have entered this area as well.

Does someone own the internet?

There are organizations that determine the Internet’s structure and how it works, but they don’t have any ownership over the Internet itself. No government can lay claim to owning the Internet, nor can any company. The Internet is like the telephone system —

no one owns the whole thing

.

Where does India get internet from?

Today, internet access in India is provided by both

public and private companies

using a variety of technologies and media including dial-up (PSTN), xDSL, coaxial cable, Ethernet, FTTH, ISDN, HSDPA (3G), WiFi, WiMAX, etc. at a wide range of speeds and costs.

Can satellites replace undersea cables?

In particular, the study finds that

new, high-capacity broadband satellites could provide backup for undersea cable infrastructure

(UCI). These include the emerging mega-constellations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) such as SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper.

How do they lay undersea internet cables?

Can Russia cut undersea communication cables?

However, this action did not happen. In 2014, Russia did target and take over infrastructure and telecommunications sites, and used DDoS attacks on government and media websites, but

it did not cut a submarine cable

.

Are transatlantic cables still used?

Transatlantic telegraph cables were undersea cables running under the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communications. Telegraphy is now an obsolete form of communication and

the cables have long since been decommissioned

, but telephone and data are still carried on other transatlantic telecommunications cables.

How often are undersea cables cut?

Damage occurs fairly regularly:

an estimated 100 to 150 cables are severed every year

, the vast majority due to fishing equipment or anchors.

Did Bill Gates create the Internet?

Of course

Bill Gates didn’t invent the Internet any more than Al Gore did

. And it’s true that Microsoft did its best to ignore the Net until 1995.

Who invented the WWW?

Inventors

Who built the Internet?

Inventors

How much does submarine cable cost?

Subsea cable system costs are about

30k$ to 50k$ per kilometer

. This is about the same cost as aerial construction, excluding the poles. You pay for the poles separately with yearly fees.

How deep are subsea cables?

Submarine cables are a 150-year-old idea with new potency

Modern cables are surprisingly thin, considering how long they are and how deep they sink. Each is usually

about 3 inches across

.

How internet is connected all over the world?

Most of what you see on the internet, including possibly this article, travels to you from underwater. In fact, 99% of all international data is transferred

through a labyrinth of cables stretching across the floor of the world’s oceans

.

David Evans
Author
David Evans
David is a seasoned automotive enthusiast. He is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering and has a passion for all things related to cars and vehicles. With his extensive knowledge of cars and other vehicles, David is an authority in the industry.