For most of us, the internet is virtual, made of Instagram posts, emails and YouTube videos. And, access to the vital utility isn’t guaranteed across the world. Glad You Asked host Cleo Abram wants to know: What is the internet actually made of? And, how does it work? Answering that question involves discovering how internet cables are laid in the sea, if 5G is really the future, and how balloons in the stratosphere are helping people connect.

Key Sources:
Submarine Cable Map - https://www.submarinecablemap.com/

Code, Charles Petzold - https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-...

Tubes, by Andrew Blum - https://www.amazon.com/Tubes-Journey-...

Internet Cable Protection Committee Report - https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-conten...

Pew Internet Fact Sheet - https://www.pewinternet.org/fact-shee...

How Does The Internet Work? - https://web.stanford.edu/class/msande...

Basic Radio Theory and Introduction to Radio Systems - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

Federal Communications Commission Broadband Map - https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/#/

InterTubes: A Study of the US Long-haul Fiber-optic Infrastructure, SIGCOMM - http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~pb/tubes_fi...

Rural Broadband Economics: A Review of Rural Subsidies, COSTQUEST - https://www.ntca.org/sites/default/fi...

RuralBroadbandEconomics-AReviewofRuralSubsidies_FinalV07112018.pdf

Worldwide Broadband Pricing, Cable - https://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/pri...

Exploring the Relationship Between Broadband and Economic Growth, World Bank - http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/39145...

Exploring-the-Relationship-between-Broadband-and-Economic-Growth-Minges.pdf

0:00 Intro
1:10 How Does The Internet Work?
3:37 Finding The Internet
6:43 An Internet Hub
8:45 The Internet Backbone
14:03 Greater Web Access