Alaska United Fiber Optic Cable System (abbreviated AUFS or AU) is a submarine

fiber optic cable A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable, but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with ...

owned by GCI that links Anchorage, several places in Southeast Alaska including Juneau, to Oregon and Washington State. Alaska United East (AU-East) is 3,751 kilometers long with landing points at Anchorage and Lena Point in Juneau, and at the shore of

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

at Norma Beach near Picnic Point in

Lynnwood, Washington Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located north of Seattle and south of Everett, near the junction of Interstate 5 and Interstate 405. It is the f ...

; AU-West has landings at Seward and on the Pacific coast at

Warrenton, Oregon Warrenton is a small, coastal city in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Named for D.K. (Daniel Knight) Warren, an early settler, the town is primarily a fishing and logging community. The population was 6,277 according to the 2020 US Censu ...

. Both are

OC-192 Optical Carrier transmission rates are a standardized set of specifications of transmission bandwidth for digital signals that can be carried on Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) fiber optic networks. Transmission rates are defined by rate of t ...

rated (10 G bit/s) as of 2018. Additional overland segments (AU-North/NW) connect Anchorage to Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay along the

Alaska Pipeline The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of ...

corridor and Parks Highway. Laying cable for the first segment, AU-East from Anchorage to Lynnwood, was accomplished in the second half of 1999. AU-East's initial cost was $120 million and it was one of two 1999 projects bringing high-speed communications including Internet access to Alaska, supplanting the 45 Mbit/s North Pacific Cable (NPC) Alaska Spur. NPC was shut down in 2004.

Alaska Communications Alaska Communications (formerly Alaska Communications Systems or ACS) is a telecommunications corporation headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. It was the first telecommunications provider in the state of Alaska to maintain a third-generation wir ...

depends on fiber connectivity to provide service. A January 2013 earthquake broke the cable near Wrangell. The

cable ship A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel designed and used to lay underwater cables for telecommunications, electric power transmission, military, or other purposes. Cable ships are distinguished by large cable sheaves for guiding cabl ...

''Wave Venture'' was sent to locate the cable with an ROV and effect repairs.

References

External links

* {{Submarine communications cables in the Pacific Ocean Submarine communications cables in the Pacific Ocean Communications in Alaska Communications in Washington (state) Communications in Oregon 1999 establishments in Alaska 1999 establishments in Washington (state)