Not really retrocomputing so much as general history of technology, but I can't resist posting an answer:
My hunch is that T-cables is a fancy way of saying either "telegraph cables" or "telephone cables". Telegraph cables have been around since the 1830s, but by 1951 was already on the way to being replaced. Telephone cables have been around since the 1870s. There were transatlantic telegraph cables in the 19th century. The first transatlantic telephone cable wasn't completed until 1956, but transatlantic phone calls using radio started in 1927. "T-cables" lets you merge "telegraph", "telephone" and "television" into one futuristic sounding word.
For those suggesting very specific "t" cables: The nature of the entire comic is to avoid specifics. The only time reference is for the first item - "A few thousand years from now". It is not 100% clear that the other items are in the same time frame, but I think that is implied. As it turns out, weather satellites were in place a decade later, but I suspect the author had no idea weather satellites would be invented so soon as this was still a few years before Sputnik. Similarly, I doubt that the author was such an expert in technology to pick a specific new wiring method.
I actually think the author really didn't know much about cable types or the long-distance transmission (of anything) industry. I have found numerous historical articles, including at least one scholarly paper, on the topic online. My general understanding is that:
- Coaxial cable was the medium of choice when it came to wired connections for technical reasons.
- Coaxial cable cost more than some other types (e.g., used for telephone) but the big issue was building the network (labor costs, major investment in infrastructure, etc.) and right of way.
- AT&T had the right of way due to their near-monopoly on the long-distance telephone network. Much as today cell phone companies will share towers with each other and local electric utilities will share poles with telephone and cable TV companies (both of which are now internet/telephone/TV companies), AT&T used the telephone rights of way (whether poles or along railway tracks or underground in big cities) to run coaxial cable for long-distance TV transmission. Effectively putting in a TV network parallel to the telephone network.
So the issue was not so much the use of coaxial cable as it was the near-monopoly situation of AT&T. Over the course of decades this changed due to satellites, fiber optic networks (which often also use existing rights of way) and the breakup of AT&T. In many places government regulations require the owner of a right of way to allow access to other vendors at a reasonable price, but things were a bit different in 1951.
Trigger warning: this part is off-topic...
But this also gives me a chance to note that:
- Global warming was seen as a benefit to the world. Which it might well be if it wasn't for the related sea-level rise - i.e., if you get Antarctica without losing coastal cities it isn't bad at all.
- The first weather satellite was in 1960, just 9 years after this comic!
- Factory-produced beef is real today.
- Weekly plastic clothing? Not quite, maybe never - in my opinion a tremendous waste of resources to manufacture weekly instead of wash and reuse. But 3D-printing has been gradually increasing in many industries, and 3D-printing of clothing is certainly a feature of much of 21st century science fiction.
retroelectronics.stackexchange.comunfortunately, I felt this was most appropriate forum.