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Transpacific Unity Fiber Optic Cable Leaves Japan

Posted by timothy on from the off-to-seek-its-fortune dept.

JoshuaInNippon writes "The 10,000 km (6,200 mile) long Unity fiber optic cable, funded by Google and five East Asian communication companies, left Japanese shores on November 1st to be laid along the northern Pacific Ocean floor. The Japanese end of the cable is expected to be fused to the American end sometime around November 11th. The cable, which was announced in February of 2008 at a cost of around $300 million USD, has the theoretical capacity of 7.68 Tbps, but will be set at a capacity of about 4.8 Tbps (supposedly equivalent to about 75 million simultaneous phone calls) during its initial use. When Unity begins full operation sometime early next year, it is projected to increase internet traffic capacity between the two regions by over 20%, a wonderful boost to transpacific relations!"

13 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Yes! by SalaSSin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Woohoo! Faster Hentai downloads :-)

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice - Grey's Law
    1. Re:Yes! by ZarathustraDK · · Score: 3, Funny

      American women beware! There's a loooong tentacle coming your way!

      --
      If you quote this signature there'll be 72 copies of Windows ME waiting for you in Heaven.
    2. Re:Yes! by houghi · · Score: 3, Funny

      That would be the case if one part would still be in Japan. However the cable left Japan, which must mean both sides (and everything in the middle) is ouside of Japan.

      (Yes, I only read the subject, why?)

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    3. Re:Yes! by adnonsense · · Score: 4, Funny

      That maybe fine for you, but here in Japan the Internet is basically one big LAN.

      So basically we have so much of the stuff tentacles are poking out of our USB ports.

      What that does mean for us, here in the land of Hello Kitty, is faster access to a range of porn featuring fewer celaphods and more girls with non-pixelized genitals.

  2. Re:Yeah but by TheKidWho · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or Godzilla decides he is hungry.

  3. Dam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Even fiber optic cable is getting laid...

    1. Re:Dam by Ant+P. · · Score: 4, Funny

      Never mind. Your turn will come someday.

      ...IN SEA BED!

  4. Faster Access To Hulu! by corsec67 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sweet, this will give me faster access to Hulu, Slacker, and all of the nice American websites.

    --
    If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
    1. Re:Faster Access To Hulu! by camperdave · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yes. You will be able to see the "This content available only in the US" error pages in a fraction of the time it would take you now.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  5. SHIT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I can "lay" a "cable" faster than that...

  6. More fiber by Yvan256 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Isn't that also what the bread companies keep trying to sell us?

  7. Re:Obligatory Stephenson Wired article by CrashNBrn · · Score: 2, Funny

    So I generally have a pretty good attention span...
    But 56 pages, is there a diploma afterwards?

  8. BitTorrent by bernywork · · Score: 2, Funny

    And the cable will be full of BitTorrent traffic in 5..4..3...2.. There we go!

    Upgrade time again!

    --
    Curiosity was framed; ignorance killed the cat. -- Author unknown