Episode Details

What happens when the economics of extending high-speed internet simply don't work? This episode explores the strange world of dark fiber — the unlit glass strands buried decades ago during the dot-com boom — and the brutal reality of connecting the last ten percent of the planet. From the frozen ground of the Northwest Territories to the lost records of Manhattan's buried conduit, we unpack the three hidden layers of the internet and why the final mile costs more than the first thousand. Featuring the CRTC's $78 million fiber run to 1,000 Arctic households, microwave links that freeze solid in wet snow, and the physics of signal loss at minus forty degrees.