Cable-Laying Boom Will Boost Internet Capacity

Barence writes "Dozens of new undersea internet cables are set to be laid over the next couple of years, providing a huge boost to worldwide capacity. The huge boom in internet video has led to doomsday scenarios of the internet running out of capacity. Although experts believe that there is abundant amounts of 'dark fibre' lying unused in oceans across the world, major telcos are pushing ahead with projects that will see at least 25 new cables laid by 2010, at a cost of $6.4bn."

Domesday

[Brumdail]

Not another Domesday scenario! I prefer cubes...

Dark Fibre?

[hellfish006]

i assume it amounts to 90% of the fibre on earth...

Re:Domesday

[Anonymous Coward]

We don't need another hero. All we want is life beyond the bandwidth dome...

This time...

[FlyingSquidStudios]

They'd better be anchor-proof.

More cable?

[iminplaya]

Anchors Aweigh!

Great

[Corpuscavernosa]

I guess there's not much to say except 1) yay, the internet is not going to reach capacity and 2) now I won't have to worry about going back to magazines for pr0n. Much easier to clear your cache and history than finding a good wife/girlfriend/son proof hiding spot at the house.

slashdotters...

[CDMA_Demo]

Dozens of new undersea internet cables are set to be laid

Look, even cables get laid

Re:Really hate those "domesday" predictions....

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, the editors really aren't "thinging" when it comes to spelling and grammar checking ;)

Re:Dark Fibre?

[antifoidulus]

Every time I go um, "cable laying" the results are pretty god damned dark.....

Re:Great

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you need to do that for? Just get your wife/girlfriend to watch it with you. Problem solved. They're just as horny as you are, they just hide it better. And... your son is going to find it no matter where you put it. Trust me.. been there, done that.

Re:Dark Fibre?

[Anonymous Coward]

Finally a scientific explanation for the ever accelerating expansion of porn on the internet

Re:The Fiber I Care About

[denis-The-menace]

Even if you could, you'd be capped at 40GB/mo and get Copyright warnings in the email.

Re:slashdotters...

[oodaloop]

If all the undersea fiber optic cable were laid end to end...I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

Re:Dark Fibre?

[Anne_Nonymous]

How about the "boom", is that part normal?

Re:Dark Fiber

[value_added]

No light means it's dark.

But that's only half the story.

Because it's dark (dark is heavier than light, which is why it gets darker the deeper you go into the oceans), the cable sinks to the bottom. If the cables were full of light, they'd float to the top of the ocean where pirates could steal the bandwidth and possibly spread spam or even malware worldwide.

The trick, of course is ensuring that "undersea cables" remain so. For that, anchors are used. They're sort of like firewall anchors, but bigger and heavier.

Re:slashdotters...

[Endo13]

It helps if you know how "filleted" is pronounced.

Caribbean cables

[Neeperando]

Does supplying more bandwidth to the Caribbean mean that the MPAA will have to start trying to prevent Pirates of the Caribbean from being downloaded illegally by pirates in the Caribbean?