What is Digg?52 Comments
- Dpack1, on 10/12/2007, -4/+47Its not that difficult... you just use duct tape. I thought everyone knew that?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25imagine all the precious porn that was spilt into the ocean when the cable broke.. geez the waste !
- GawtMilk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17This earthquake sucked. Phone lines and internet acess were either limited or entirely cutoff (Singapore). Those wires caried 3.6 terabits of information per second. In terms of casualties, one person died...but information going in and out of asia slowed to a near-standstill. I couldn't call a classmate until seven days after the quake, I stopped getting emails, etc.
- JLMac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16For those of us who need pictures to see how it's repaired:
http://www.nttwem.co.jp/english/MAR/MAR-BTQ04.htm - sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Ever since the Octopuses unionized it's been difficult to get workers dexterous enough to perform work like this.
- digid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8slashdot wants their joke back
- Amything, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8We have this problem in Iceland now. 2 cables go to Iceland, 1 from US and another from Europe. The US cable broke middle of nowhere and currently watching something simple like a Youtube video becomes difficult and torrenting almost impossible (depends slightly on the ISP how much they depend on the US cable or if they can easily route US traffic through Europe). Fixing the problem is taking more than a month now.
- conna, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I don't think it matters how bad the damage is as they cut the cable clean at two places(cut out the bad) and weld in a replacement section. Sort of like fixing a broken arm by cutting it off and replacing it with someone else's.
- Empyrean, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12With a series of tubes of course.
- WarpFox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yes, it took almost a week to get my world of warcraft golds.
- dunezone, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Now heres a head scratcher of a question.
- Thex1138, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Undersea cables have power lines which are built into the cable.
The power is to operate signal 'repeaters' or modems which are a fitting like a lump in the cable.
Repeaters are typically installed every 30 kilometres to maintain signal strength on coax' cables...
Fibre optics can set repeaters up to about 90 kilometres..
If there is a break then the operators can determine which section of the cable is broken or damaged so
they either install a repeater at the breakage or a new section of cable between the two repeaters because all the sections of cable are the same length.
Friend at BT told me about it - dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"Ever since the Octopuses unionized it's been difficult to get workers dexterous enough to perform work like this."
It's OCTOPI, you racist. - 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3We know an earthquake didn't break the cable - the patch the Professor made on Gilligan's Isle, finally came off...
- wvdavis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeap... 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads and ball bearings.
- Oldschoolhack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@Warpfox
"You left out the ????? step"
Everyone knows ????? means putting Chuck Norris into the equasion. - polyGone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3With undersea pliers?
Actually nix that....get some squids to do it....they're smart like us right? - chazsmith, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6"How do you fix an undersea cable?"
Funny You Should Ask. Here's How:
Step. 1 Find a broken undersea cable.
Step. 2 Invite three well qualified individuals, like yourself, to find a broken undersea cable. Then they can find three more well qualified individuals, like yourself, to find three more broken undersea cables to join in for a wonderful, fun, rewarding broken undersea cable experience you'll remember for a lifetime!
Step. 3 Profit!!!!
This process is so easy and so simple anyone can do it. From your shut in neighbor down the hall to that whoreish mother of four who cheats on her husband with UPS man in the apartment above you. - nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Its not that difficult... you just use duct tape. I thought everyone knew that?"
There are other tools you can use to fix things besides duct tape? When the ***** did that happen?! I didn't see anything about it on digg... - unicornhunter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I've always wondered about this, from the first time I hear about undersea cables as a child.
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Robots. Lots of them.
- hkrob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Sent out on Sunday 7th/Jan/2007 to PCCW (the standard Telecoms Operator in Hong Kong) Internet Customers in HK :
緊急事故 Important Notice
近日台灣地震令區內海底電纜受損， 電訊盈科經過連日努力轉駁數據通訊及新增額外頻寬 ，令互聯網通訊大致回復正常，只有台灣、南韓、日本及美國偶爾有間歇性擠塞。 我們將竭盡所能繼續改善現時狀況。
Ever since the earthquake in Taiwan which damaged most of the undersea data cables in the region, PCCW has made continuous effort on data re-routing and acquisition of alternate bandwidth. As a result, Internet service has generally returned to normal with occasional traffic congestion to Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the US. We shall continue to do whatever is within our power to further improve the situation in the near future. - flowaus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've been watching it via my employer's trouble ticket system.
Remember kiddies - Diversity is the key. Satellite may suck for ping times, but it sure works in these conditions. Huge amounts of traffic was switched over during the outages. - sevenhelmets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Does anyone know when it's expected to be fully repaired and up to full capacity again?
Edit: tomeitel you posted just in time.....nice - Grimdotdotdot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I understand how the robot can find the break in the cable, but how does the grapnel know where to cut?
- hime77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Modern cable systems now usually have their fibers arranged in a self-healing ring to increase their redundancy, with the submarine sections following different paths on the ocean floor. This is due to the capacity of cable systems becoming so large that it is not possible to completely back-up a cable system with satellite capacity. But not all telecom organizations utilize this so some countries have dual landing points while other countries that are small enough to be back up by other means or they feel it’s too expensive they may only have one landing point.
For those who want some more geek info below is a vendor link that goes more into Equipment used.
http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/submarine/products/marine/index.htm
Also good news for those in Asia is that they are working on a new cable called Transpacific Express that should be ready in late 2008 that will have about 60 times the capacity of existing lines between the United States and China, and be capable of supporting the equivalent of 62 million phone calls simultaneously. The cable will connect a point in Nedonna Beach, Oregon, on the U.S. West Coast, with landing points in Qingdao and Chongming, China. The cable will also branch out to landings in Tanshui, Taiwan, and Keoje, South Korea. - hime77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The system consists of a ring of bidirectional links between a set of stations. In normal use, traffic is dispatched in the direction of the shortest path towards its destination. In the event of the loss of a link, or of an entire station, the two nearest surviving stations "loop back" their ends of the ring. In this way, traffic can still travel to all surviving parts of the ring, even if it has to travel "the long way round".
A self healing ring is like most big cites in the US has freeway systems that loop around the city. If one part is jacked up because bubba got drunk and slammed his truck into the short bus you can still get to the part of the city you want to by taking the long way around the loop. - jordan314, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Oh ok, should have wikipedia'd it, it just means it's redundant, it doesn't actually physically 'heal' itself.
- Bokista, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Very carefully."
- WarpFox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You left out the ????? step
- monkeyforest, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I used to work for one of the few companies that make the cable laying and repair equipment for these cable ships. These are *big* pieces of kit!
- Woknblues, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i thought the tech guys at my internet service provider were lying. sorry about that guys. looks like my blistering fast 256kbps is down to 143.... stupid ocean and its stupid earthquakes!
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ahhh, Jaws 2... Undersea cables are the perfect shark repellent.
- jordan314, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1what the hell is a self-healing ring?
- RTourn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I had imagined it to be thicker.
- starguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11. Cut the cable where the break is, if not already in two.
2. Lift both ends seperately out of the sea with two different boats. Note that as cable is lifted, this will make some distance between them.
3. Using third piece of new cable, splice it onto one end, drop the cable to the ocean floor, then go to the second boat, spice it onto that end, then drop that splice into the ocean.
4. Celebrate with a milk.
You can do this with one boat, of course, but it means diving a second time for the other side you left at the bottom of the ocean.
Its really not complicated at all. Just lift both ends out of the water where you can work on them, and add a piece in between, rather than trying to do something insane like repairing them under water. - dasilva333, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1scuba steve!
- achoo5000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think the cables also have repeaters to account for signal losses. Where do those things get power from?
- szembek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The same as you would any other cable, except you have to go to the bottom of the ocean to do it.
- cisco2008, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The repeaters are powered from the cable landing station by the power feeding equipment. The submarine cables laid have a portion made of copper where DC power is fed.
- Coronagold, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2awsome aricle, would be a bitch if you snagged your fishing rod on it ;)..
- snecklifter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Wow, that was quick.
http://www.duggmirror.com - abcdefghij, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2forget porn, imagine all the dead deep sea fish when a virus or worm is spreading around the world.. in the event of cable break, they'll be released into the water and kill all those fish!!
thanks for the -digg guys, i'll be here all week! - leingangzj, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0large ship drags, for the cable, you snag it, real it up fix broken sections, will cost a few million most likely, pending the damage done, and also there is alotta variables, the size of the fleet, and manpower will vary the speed in which it can be done.
- ajiyoshi, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0difficult probrem
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+0From Cyberdyne Systems.
God that was a great movie... - firearcade, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1No need to fix it...just lay down new ones
Will it blend? - tomeitel, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1man it sure has been a bummer here in the philippines we have had the slowest internet i have ever seen in my life even before 14.4 kbbs modems... and man i thought those days were over....
BUT HERE YOU GO!!! BY NEXT WEEK THEY SAY IT WILL BE FIXED AND BACK TO NORMAL HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES AND PROLLY TO MOST ALL AREAS AFFECTED! - hiPpymIck, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1the submariner
http://www.samcci.comics.org/su-01-35.htm
ps is this site weird?
http://www.thetoyshoppe.com/displayItem.asp?prodID=38523
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