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Comment by latchkey | Hacker News Reader

In Vietnam, near every holiday or major event the internet magically slows to a crawl and the Govt run papers declare that sharks have attacked the undersea cables, it is almost comical how well timed the 'attacks' are...

https://saigoneer.com/saigon-technology/11885-sharks,-anchor...

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20190528/vietnams-intern...

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20171016/vietnam-grapple...

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/city-diary/20170125/save-vietnam...

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/ne...

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Was reading the wikipedia page on undersea cables and ran across this gem -- some pirates tried to sell 100 tons of fiber cable they nabbed off the bottom of the ocean near Vietnam: https://lirneasia.net/2007/06/vietnams-submarine-cable-lost-...

Salvaged copper is worth a lot and has a lot of uses for which it can be repurposed. Salvaged fiber...less so.

Are undersea fiber cables bundled with copper conductors to power the repeaters?

Yes, there is copper or aluminum for power. Most of the metal in a submarine fiber cable is steel.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable

Reminds me of the opening of Mean Streets (1973, Martin Scorsese),

—

Come on, hurry up with that shit, huh?

What's this, more shit?

No, that ain't shit. That's a German lens.

I've got two shipments of those.

That's good stuff.

Can't use it.

What do ya mean ya can't use it?

That's a telescopic one.

That's the best one they make.

It's not German, it's Jap.

This is an adaptor, it's not a lens.

You bought two shipments

of Jap adaptors, not lenses.

Jap adaptors.

After living in Vietnam for 6 years I can second this. Even my Vietnamese team jokes that "sharks bite" before each major national holiday. Fortunately, I've also noticed that the effects are not as disastrous as before. Previously, it would be impossible to keep a VPN up to a US server, but now I can still get high speeds and low latency through the "cable cuts."

Hey Lucas! Nice to see you here too. =)

My favorite quote... so somehow traffic to those 3 sites magically don't go over the links that are having 'trouble'...

"Normal access to international sites, including Google, Facebook and YouTube, will be ensured, the Viettel representative stated."

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20191224/issues-in-3-sub...

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