Does this video tell the truth?

[The Dragon]

I just watched this video and it just doesn't seem true. Is this actually how it works? I thought it was all satellites and crap.

 

 

[Lurick]

Yah it is true, satellites have a crap ton of latency. We are always laying new cables too for lower latency and upgrading the backbone infrastructure. There isn't just one cable though but tons of them.

[SeanAngelo]

imagine the length of those cables... damn

[zMeul]

 

everytime I hear someone mentioning "the cloud" I want to punch him in the throat - "the cloud" does not exist; it's a made up term to aggregate / amalgamate all the stuff the average joe doesn't understand or can't be bothered to

[Stefan1024]

Yes it's true. Due to the very limited free bandwith in the air, a wireless transfer of massive amount of data is nearly impossible, Not to meantion the latency and the cost to get the satelite into the orbit.

[.spider.]

Yes there are some cables

 

http://www.submarinecablemap.com/ 

 

And what happens if a cable is cut

https://www.ripe.net/analyse/archived-projects/mediterranean-fibre-cable-cut 

[skywake]

Most of "the internet" is fibre. Even if you're on copper, satellite or mobile everything up to that last point is fibre. Mobile towers are generally connected via fibre, satellite base stations are usually connected via fibre, the exchange or node on a copper network is connected via fibre.

 

Why? Because fibre is stable, high bandwidth and cheap. If you're connecting two permanent locations and there's no existing infrastructure? Fibre is the first opinion.

[KuJoe]

3 hours ago, skywake said:

Most of "the internet" is fibre. Even if you're on copper, satellite or mobile everything up to that last point is fibre. Mobile towers are generally connected via fibre, satellite base stations are usually connected via fibre, the exchange or node on a copper network is connected via fibre.

 

Why? Because fibre is stable, high bandwidth and cheap. If you're connecting two permanent locations and there's no existing infrastructure? Fibre is the first opinion.

You forgot to mention distance. Fiber can extend much further than copper and maintain high speeds.

 

As for the underground cables, there was an awesome episode of "Mighty Ships" that was posted online (and now removed) that followed a ship called the Resolute while it laid underwater fiber for Costa Rica to get them connected to the US and Panama.

[Guest]

18 hours ago, zMeul said:

 

everytime I hear someone mentioning "the cloud" I want to punch him in the throat - "the cloud" does not exist; it's a made up term to aggregate / amalgamate all the stuff the average joe doesn't understand or can't be bothered to

That's why I bought some of these:

[zMeul]

10 minutes ago, Windspeed36 said:

it's especially infuriating when tech engineers use it

[KuJoe]

52 minutes ago, zMeul said:

it's especially infuriating when tech engineers use it

I know, I hate when people use jargon that everybody else understands.

[zMeul]

14 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

I know, I hate when people use jargon that everybody else understands.

they  "understand" exactly shit - go on the street and ask anyone to explain what "the cloud" is

that term was invented to exactly put under the same umbrella a lot of network and internet services

 

it's a term for idiots, ignorants and tech illiterate people

and the funny part is: IT businesses selling "cloud services" to other businesses 

 

it's a fucking server farm somewhere in a bunker, deep underground in a undisclosed location

[KuJoe]

10 minutes ago, zMeul said:

they  "understand" exactly shit - go on the street and ask anyone to explain what "the cloud" is

that term was invented to exactly put under the same umbrella a lot of network and internet services

 

it's a term for idiots, ignorants and tech illiterate people

and the funny part is: IT businesses selling "cloud services" to other businesses 

 

it's a fucking server farm somewhere in a bunker, deep underground in a undisclosed location

I envy you if you get so upset over something so trivial. It can be argued about until the end of time and it doesn't matter at all. Call it what you want, it doesn't impact anybody else at the end of the day. The term "cloud" is used to describe an abstract idea so it can't be wrong or right. The word "cloud" has been used long before marketing people got a hold of it.

 

EDIT: The people who understand the word "cloud" are the people signing the paychecks. If somebody wants to pay you six figures to be their "cloud engineer" and setup their ESXi hosts then are you going to care what they call you?

[zMeul]

14 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

I envy you if you get so upset over something so trivial. It can be argued about until the end of time and it doesn't matter at all. Call it what you want, it doesn't impact anybody else at the end of the day. The term "cloud" is used to describe an abstract idea so it can't be wrong or right. The word "cloud" has been used long before marketing people got a hold of it.

yes I am upset because people in the IT tech industry fell victims of ignorance

 

this is how lot of terms with deep roots in technology have been used to describe the wrong thing - calling the video card the GPU and other BS like that; other example: scripting is not computer programming

 

 

take the OP here, he thought the internet is a bunch of wireless services - when it fact it something else entirely

 

---

 

Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge - Horace Mann

[leadeater]

2 hours ago, KuJoe said:

You forgot to mention distance. Fiber can extend much further than copper and maintain high speeds.

 

As for the underground cables, there was an awesome episode of "Mighty Ships" that was posted online (and now removed) that followed a ship called the Resolute while it laid underwater fiber for Costa Rica to get them connected to the US and Panama.

The under water fibre cables also have inline optical repeaters or amplifiers. Not sure how many repeater vs amplifier cables there are, or if any are amplifier based at all. Most cables have been in place for a very long time and repeaters were the only workable solution at the time.

 

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-Optical-Fiber-Amplifiers-And-How-Do-They-Work?&id=1160621

 

The repeaters are powered by the fibre cable using a high voltage layer in the cable makeup and the sea water is used as return.

 

The Southern Cross Cable for New Zealand and Australia is actually very openly documented and has some good information on how it works.

 

Quote

The network is almost 30,500 km in length, including 28,900km of submarine cable incorporating around 500 optical repeaters (placed every 40-70km), and 1,600km of terrestrial cable. There are nine cable stations (two each in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the US mainland, and one in Fiji) and an access point in San Jose, California.

 

Both cables in the network contain six optical fibres (3 fibre pairs) between Sydney and Hawaii, and eight fibres (4 fibre pairs) between Hawaii and the US West Coast

http://www.southerncrosscables.com/home/network/overviewandmap. For the map click on Segments and hover over the lines to get detailed information on the cable. The map is also slightly out of date since it shows each wavelength at 10Gb/s when there are some 100Gb/s wavelengths now.

 

The interesting thing to note is the low number of fibre pairs, personally I expected more until I looked in to it.

 

Also last I heard a competing cable for the South Cross Cable has been approved and funded to go ahead so there might be a new documentary following the construction of that, I would like to watch it so I hope there is one.

[Unhelpful]

7 hours ago, zMeul said:

 

While you're whining about it, just remember how the phrase started and who it started with: network engineers. It was / is common-practice to use a cloud to denote other networks / the internet in network diagrams. Idiots are idiots, but that term isn't really all that idiotic, most of the people using it are. It has been used as such since the 90's. It's practically the same as "the grid" and I'm perfectly fine with it as a phrase.

[TidaLWaveZ]

9 hours ago, Windspeed36 said:

That's why I bought some of these:

YES! I've been waiting a while to hear that there's other people who this aggravates. 

[Brenz]

10 hours ago, zMeul said:

it's a fucking server farm somewhere in a bunker, deep underground in a undisclosed location

I get upset when people think companies keep servers in bunkers and in top secret underground locations.

 

99% are just large buildings with some extra security.

[zMeul]

7 minutes ago, Brenz said:

I get upset when people think companies keep servers in bunkers and in top secret underground locations.

 

99% are just large buildings with some extra security.

depends on what you have to work with

most of them are housed in decommissioned rocket bunkers and similar ex-military installations 

[Brenz]

Just now, zMeul said:

depends on what you have to work with

most of them are housed in decommissioned rocket bunkers and similar ex-military installations 

They really aren't. It's vastly cheaper to build a new structure designed with all the power, data and cooling exactly where you need it than it is to retrofit an old building.

 

In the end the cost of the building is a lot less than the hardware inside.

[leadeater]

3 hours ago, zMeul said:

depends on what you have to work with

most of them are housed in decommissioned rocket bunkers and similar ex-military installations 

 

3 hours ago, Brenz said:

They really aren't. It's vastly cheaper to build a new structure designed with all the power, data and cooling exactly where you need it than it is to retrofit an old building.

 

In the end the cost of the building is a lot less than the hardware inside.

 

Fairly sure, or I very much hope, he was joking/being sarcastic.

[KuJoe]

2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Fairly sure, or I very much hope, he was joking/being sarcastic.

You never know anymore. Some people really think their data is floating around in sky apparently.

[Blueprint]