# Data transfer across oceans **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 7, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788 "2003-03-07T20:07:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mister\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@mister\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_me)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/1 "2003-03-07T20:07:01Z")
How is data transferred via the internet across oceans? I just read an article about how the internet speed record was just broken using fiber-optics. The transfer rate was about 9.8 MB’s per sec. The data was being downloaded (I believe) from Amsterdam to illinois (not 100% sure, I could be wrong about the locations). Anyway, there must be a spot somewhere in the continental US where data no longer moves through a physical pipe, right? Unless, of course, there is a big interent pipe from New York, through the ocean and over to Europe (LOL)?? Anyone have a little Internet 101 on how data gets across the ocean and where the last stop is on the east and west coasts before it heads over-seas? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/2 "2003-03-07T20:23:04Z")
There are cables under the ocean between North America and Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/3 "2003-03-07T20:32:46Z")
9.8 MB/s is not particularly fast these days. Maybe it was 9.8 GB/s? ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/4 "2003-03-07T20:43:58Z")
923 megabits per second: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2822333.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2822333.stm) ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/5 "2003-03-07T20:53:36Z")
Oh, and on the actual OP… There are a lot of maps of backbone cables available here: [http://bandwidthmarket.com/resources/links/maps.html](http://bandwidthmarket.com/resources/links/maps.html) If you’re specifically interested in US-Europe, there’s a list of Atlantic cables here: [http://www.alcatel.com/submarine/refs/cibles/atln/](http://www.alcatel.com/submarine/refs/cibles/atln/) For example, the FLAG cable runs from Long Island, US to Land’s End, UK and St. Brieuc, France. [http://www.alcatel.com/submarine/refs/cibles/atln/flag.htm](http://www.alcatel.com/submarine/refs/cibles/atln/flag.htm) ---
**Author:** ![mister\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@mister\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_me)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/6 "2003-03-07T21:01:04Z")
Thanks! That’s exactly what I was looking for! ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/7 "2003-03-07T22:15:06Z")
:eek: My SO told me this, and I didnt believe him! Well, I did, because it makes sense, but I just couldn’t fathom it! He also told me that there are phone lines down there too…my question (and the one I still laugh at the thought of) is how did they put the very first one there? Did they make a big, long cable, and tie it down at one end and pull it behind a boat to the other side? Did they know it would work, for a long-distance phone call? who paid for it? And where do they make really big (atlantic-sized) cables? ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/8 "2003-03-07T22:20:10Z")
:eek: My SO told me this, and I didnt believe him! Well, I did, because it makes sense, but I just couldn’t fathom it! He also told me that there are phone lines down there too…my question (and the one I still laugh at the thought of) is how did they put the very first one there? Did they make a big, long cable, and tie it down at one end and pull it behind a boat to the other side? Did they know it would work, for a long-distance phone call? who paid for it? And where do they make really big (atlantic-sized) cables? ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/9 "2003-03-07T22:41:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mnemosyne \* > \*\*:eek: My SO told me this, and I didnt believe him! Well, I did, because it makes sense, but I just couldn’t fathom it! He also told me that there are phone lines down there too…my question (and the one I still laugh at the thought of) is how did they put the very first one there? Did they make a big, long cable, and tie it down at one end and pull it behind a boat to the other side? Did they know it would work, for a long-distance phone call? who paid for it? And where do they make really big (atlantic-sized) cables? \*\* In an earlier thread about undersea cables, I linked to a Wired magazine article that talks about how cables are laid. They’re not pulled, they’re dropped. As far as the cables are concerned, phone calls are just a type of data. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=163961](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=163961) ---
**Author:** ![Yersinia\_Pestis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yersinia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia_Pestis)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/10 "2003-03-08T05:20:27Z")
The undersea cables were originally intended for the transmission of telegraph signals, since the telephone hadn’t been invented yet. The first submarine cable between Britain and France was laid in 1850. The first trans-Atlantic underwater cable was laid in 1857, but it broke. Oopsie!\* There wasn’t a successful one until 1865. (Some of this info might be in the earlier thread, I just happened to have it on my desk (no, really) and thought I’d drop it in.) \*There’s a cool scene in _Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea_ where the Nautilus encounters the broken cable. ---
**Author:** ![Daver914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Daver914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daver914)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/11 "2003-03-08T06:32:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Did they make a big, long cable, and tie it down at one end and pull it behind a boat to the other side? Did they know it would work, for a long-distance phone call? who paid for it? And where do they make really big (atlantic-sized) cables? The cables in question are installed by the big ISPs and backbone operators, such as AT&T and UUNET. They are _very_ expensive to drop and maintain, approximately $50,000/km. According to [this site](http://www-dsg.stanford.edu/holbrook/CableCosts.html), these cables can carry between 500 Mbps and 10 Gbps, and future ones will undoubtedly carry more. An interesting sidenote, due to the high cost of bandwidth on these cables, many large ISPs are installing “cache farms” near the mouths of these cables. Basically, these are clusters of machines that save a copy of all data being passed through the pipe. If someone requests a piece of data that is already stored, the request is fulfilled locally rather than being sent across the undersea cable. The [Akamai](http://www.akamai.com/index_noflash.html) corporation maintains a lot of these. If you have access to a graphic traceroute tool (like [NeoTrace](http://www.networkingfiles.com/PingFinger/Neotraceexpress.htm)), make a few requests for popular international sites. You’d be surprised how often your request is actually served by an Akamai cache server rather than the site in question. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/12 "2003-03-08T06:34:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Running with Scissors \* > \*\*9.8 MB/s is not particularly fast these days. Maybe it was 9.8 GB/s? \*\* It bloody is! I would sure love to be able to download at 9.8MB/s! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/data-transfer-across-oceans/159788/13 "2003-03-08T11:53:05Z")
This is why internet services are so expensive outside of the US - the traffic to and from US based websites etc is phenomenal.