My point is that Antarctica is well connected by fiber. Am I mistaken?
It is quite real. The satellite links are like 10 Mbps. You go far enough south, and you cant even hit the satellite because it’s over the horizon. There aren’t any high-speed polar satellites. Companies don’t send their satellites that far south because there are too few customers to justify the cost.
That’s changing with starlink, though, since those ones are in a polar orbit.
DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de 3 days ago
frongt@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Yes. There are no fiber links to Antarctica. Nor copper. It’s all satellite. www.submarinecablemap.com
DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de 3 days ago
I stand corrected. The satellite data from remote sensing satellites downloaded at Antarctica downlink stations are sent back to other countries by geostationary satellite links.
frongt@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Yes. Or, if it’s a lot of data, hand-carried on a hard drive.
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 3 days ago
10 Mbps is like average Scotland internet unless you’re in a major city.
frongt@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
For a household? Yeah that’s tolerable. For a couple dozen people living and working, it’s tighter.