[abeppu]

The ending of this makes it sound super clean. 3 ms * speed of light => ~560 miles. "It all makes sense!"

But ... isn't the speed of light through fiber actually like 2/3 of the speed of light in a vacuum? And that fiber isn't going to be laid out in a straight line exactly to the destination. So I think really there must have been a fair bit of uncertainty around that ~3ms to abort a connection.

[comex]

The FAQ addresses this:

https://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail-faq.html

[umvi]

The FAQ was more entertaining than the actual story!

[frandroid]

Since the story has been posted umpteenth times, this is what should be posted these days. Very entertaining, thanks!

[divbzero]

Yes! Thank you GP this too was my first time reading that follow-up FAQ.

[forgingahead]

My goodness, the questions people sent in. "I've never met a rich nitpicker" comes to mind.

[ummonk]

Was gonna say. Speed of light through cables or fiber optics is roughly 2/3 the speed of light through vacuum. Also I don't see how it would know it has established a connection until the round-trip has happened. All in all, it probably waited more like 10 ms, if this story were true, which it probably isn't.

[curiousgal]

I am surprised that signals travel faster in copper (3c/4) than in fiber (2c/3), anyone has an explanation?

[chongli]

The number for copper is not a fixed quantity, it varies with the type of cable. Electric fields are outside of the copper wire, not inside. The copper conductor acts as a wave guide for the electromagnetic wave. So it turns out that things around the cable have an effect on the speed of propagation [1], particularly the insulator. Bare copper wire in a vacuum would be very close to c. In the case of fibre, the issue is index of refraction.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocity_factor

[baby]

And the time it takes to get to that fiber. It’s a fictive piece probably?