Was wondering about the reason for the terribly slow internet connection, both at home and the office, when a news clip on the TV gave the reason for this.   

A storm struck the Egyptian coastline due to which ships were unable to dock at the Alexandria port, causing them to drop anchor some distance off the port. Apparently, one such anchor landed on top of the submarine cable channel, damaging the undersea cable link.

Most of the countries in Asia, and particularly Egypt were affected. Some parts of Europe too had problems.

Firms in India were affected, though some said they had backup plans for such an event, and had transferred work via the Pacific route to their other centres.

According to an article in the paper, this is what it takes to repair a broken cable;

  • Find the location of the accident; drag the damaged part to the surface, and replace it with a new stretch of cable 

  • May also send light pulses along the fibers in the cable to determine the exact location

  • A working fiber will transmit those pulses all the way across the ocean; a broken one will bounce it back

  • The telecom operator then sends out a large cable ship with a few miles of fresh fibre-optic lines

  • If the faulty part of the cable is less than about 4,000 feet down, a submersible robot can be sent

  • The robot finds the right place; grabs hold of the cable; cuts out the malfunctioning section, and pulls the loose ends back up to the ship

  • Robots do not work in very deep water. In such cases, technicians use a grapnel to cut the cable and hold it

  • A skilled technician splices the glass fibers; uses adhesives to attach the new section of cable

  • The repaired cable is then lowered back to the seabed on ropes

Phew !! Hope all this happens soon. The internet has become a way of life now, and to see the error message “This page cannot be displayed” is particularly irritating when one is in the midst of an important transaction, like Netbanking, for example.

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