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Does each cable actually lie at the sea bed? What if the route comes across a really deep part of the ocean?
That's answered in the linked map. "Beyond 1500 meters from the shoreline, builders typically lay unarmored cable directly on the seabed ... a few reach depths greater than 8000 meters."
I recommend 'A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable' by John Steele Gordon. [1] From description, "But in 1866, the Old and New Worlds were united by the successful laying of a cable across the Atlantic. John Steele Gordon's book chronicles this extraordinary achievement -- the brainchild of American businessman Cyrus Field and one of the greatest engineering feats of the nineteenth ce…
Also very enjoyable, and somewhat shorter (though still very long): 'Mother Earth Mother Board' [1], Neal Stephenson's essay on the laying of the FLAG cable, and related history. [1] http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass.html
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Me too but then if you think about it you can lay a cable around the biggest part of the earth the equator that's about 40,000km. If you have a geostationary satellite that's about 35,000km. Pretty close but latency is a tiny bit worse for the satellite T=D/V Equator at 40,075km / 209,855km/s=0.19s (saw a Stack Exchange question about speed of light in optical fibre slows light 30%). And for satellites 35,000km / 299…
Wouldn't you have to double the number for the satellite since you have to first to up to space then back down to earth?