They stretch across the ocean. They're three or five or eight thousand miles in length, and if the material science and the computational technology is incredibly complicated, the basic physical process is shockingly simple. Light goes in on one end of the ocean and comes out on the other, and it usually comes from a building called a landing station that's often tucked away inconspicuously in a little seaside neighborhood, and there are amplifiers that sit on the ocean floor that look kind of like bluefin tuna, and every 50 miles they amplify the signal, and since the rate of transmission is incredibly fast, the basic unit is a 10-gigabit-per-second wavelength of light, maybe a thousand times your own connection, or capable of carrying 10,000 video streams, but not only that, but you'll put not just one wavelength of light through one of the fibers, but you'll put maybe 50 or 60 or 70 different wavelengths or colors of light through a single fiber, and then you'll have maybe eight fibers in a cable, four going in each direction.
Tie stiepjas pāri okeānam. Tie ir aptuveni 5000, 8000 vai 13 000 kilometrus gari. Un, ja materiālzinātne un skaitļošanas tehnoloģijas ir apbrīnojami sarežģītas, tad fiziskie pamatprocesi ir satriecoši vienkārši. Gaisma ieiet kabelī vienā okeāna malā un iznāk ārā otrā. Tas parasti nāk no ēkas, ko sauc par nolaišanas staciju, kas parasti neuzkrītoši slēpjas kādā mazā piekrastes miestiņā. Okeāna dibenā ir pastiprinātāji, kas izskatās pēc zilspuru tunča, un ik pa 80 kilometriem tie pastiprina signālu. Pārraides ātrums ir neticami liels – pamata mērvienība ir 10 gigabaiti sekundē gaismas viļņa, tas ir tūstoškārt ātrāk nekā jūsu pašu pieslēgums, tas spēj pārraidīt 10 000 video straumju. Bet tas vēl nav viss – vienā šķiedrā nav tikai viens gaismas vilnis, tajā ir 50 vai 60, vai 70 dažādu gaismas viļņu vai krāsu, un vienā kabelī ir varbūt astoņas šķiedras, četras katrā virzienā.