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99% Invisible

Transatlantic Fiber-Optic Expialidocious

6/30/202632 min

Before the internet went global, one undersea gamble made it possible. 

Jane Ruffino’s story, "Say Goodbye to the Undersea Cable That Made the Global Internet Possible," appears in the May-June issue of Wired magazine.

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Clips

Sharks Attack the Cable
Big Tech Owns The Wires
Fiber Beats Satellites
From Cable To Shampoo Bottle
Capacity Gone In 18 Months

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Speaker 10:00

    Booking a Vrbo vacation rental means you get Vrbo Care and twenty-four seven live support, verified reviews from real guests, and top-rated homes with the Loved by Guests filter.

  2. Jane Ruffino· Soundbite0:07

    I just booked my Vrbo 'cause there was a sweet wine fridge.

  3. Speaker 10:10

    We all have our reasons. If you know, you Vrbo. Terms apply. See vrbo.com/trust for details.

  4. Roman Mars· Host0:14

    This is 99% Invisible. I'm Roman Mars, and I'm here with 99PI producer and reporter Christopher Johnson. Hey, Christopher.

  5. Christopher Johnson0:22

    Hey, Roman. So I'm in New York City, as you know.

  6. Roman Mars· Host0:26

    Mm-hmm.

  7. Christopher Johnson0:27

    And of course, you are in California, and we're connected over Zoom.

  8. Roman Mars· Host0:31

    We are. It's good to see you.

  9. Christopher Johnson0:32

    It's always good to see you. [laughs] And you're coming in crystal clear, which is great, and this is especially amazing considering that my voice and my face are traveling all the way across the continent to you through wires, Roman. [laughs] Infrastructure.

  10. Roman Mars· Host0:52

    [laughs] Love it.

  11. Christopher Johnson0:53

    And that infrastructure uses fiber optics. How familiar are you with fiber optics, Roman?

  12. Roman Mars· Host1:00

    Well, I think I know the basics. It's light carrying information down glass fibers. I think I can... Yeah, I can picture it.

  13. Christopher Johnson1:07

    Excellent, excellent. That's exactly right. So at its simplest, fiber optics involves basically translating information, like our conversation right now, into pulses of light, and that light zips down those long glass fibers that are finer than strands of hair, and then that light is turned back into information

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