[Paperpusher]

Dont laser beams travel at the same speed as radio waves? How can they have instant communications?

[Justa]

Yes. They can’t.

Two benefits of laser comms is they’re harder to intercept and don’t dissipate as easily as radio waves.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

Dont laser beams travel at the same speed as radio waves?

Yes, that's correct. We still can't break Einstein's speed limit.

[for-q-clinton]

If they want instant comms they need to get this quantum stuff figured out. And they are making huge progress recently. Using entanglement they can communicate instantly anywhere in the universe.

[GingisK]

How can they have instant communications?

It wasn't instantaneous. It merely worked.

The laser projects a tight beam that doesn't disperse as much as a radio transmission. The beam arrives at the destination with enough energy to be detected. The reply can also be received.

To do this with radio requires the use of mammoth dish antennas. The lasers make communications possible without large infrastructure.

[fso301]

Dont laser beams travel at the same speed as radio waves? How can they have instant communications?

Less divergence is one reason. The laser beam spreads out much slower than that of a directional radio signal.