Smart Cable Routing
Dijkstra-based routing through real submarine cables and landing points from TeleGeography data. Accurate distance multipliers for land and undersea segments.
In-depth analysis of how internet traffic moves through 708 submarine cable systems, based on real measurements from our probes worldwide.
On August 26, 2026, a magnitude 4.9 earthquake occurred 42 km northeast of Ruteng, Indonesia. The event was localized to a region with a moderate population density and was recorded at a shallow depth, which can amplify ground shaking effects. Local authorities and monitoring agencies responded promptly to assess the situation and ensure public safety.
Despite the proximity of several submarine cable systems to the earthquake's epicenter, the infrastructure demonstrated strong resilience. The Sape-Labuan Bajo-Ende-Kupang cable, which connects key locations across Indonesia and lands 89 km from the event, maintained its average latency of approximately 179 ms. Similarly, the Indonesia Tengah Cable Systems, landing 92 km from the epicenter, sustained its typical performance of around 190 ms. The Palapa Ring East, which supports connectivity in eastern Indonesia, also held steady at an average of 182 ms. These systems, along with others in the region, continued to carry traffic without disruption.
Our monitoring systems remain actively engaged, performing routine checks across all monitored submarine cable systems. This ensures real-time oversight of network performance and continued operational stability across these critical communication corridors.
The network remained in excellent health today, with no anomalies or active alerts recorded across 1900 latency/route checks on 648 submarine cables. This quiet day underscores the robust stability of our monitored routes.
Notable fluctuations were observed on a few cables. The Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) Cable saw a significant increase in round-trip time (RTT), rising by 136% to 208.7ms compared to its 7-day average of 88.5ms, indicating normal network jitter. Conversely, the Adria-1 cable experienced a substantial improvement, with RTT decreasing by 84% from 113.5ms to 18.5ms over the same period. Other cables like SEAX-1 and JAKABARE also showed minor increases in latency, but these were within expected variability ranges.
Earthquake of magnitude 6 occurred 215 km from Lospalos, Timor-Leste. Submarine cables in the area, including ACC-1 and Hawaiki Nui 1, continue to operate normally.
The same address, 1.1.1.1, answers in 0.69 ms from one city and 11.54 ms from another. We used it as a reachability anchor for three months and measured almost nothing. Traceroutes, numbers, and the fix.
The 6.7 magnitude earthquake near Anízio, Peru, did not affect submarine cables such as Fibra Optica al Pacífico and SAm-1.
Discover why internet data between Brazil and Oman takes an unexpected detour through the US.
An analysis of the undersea cable chokepoint at El Segundo: 13 cables, critical routes, potential threats, and monitoring efforts.
Flooding in Tunisia caused anomalies on submarine cables, including KELTRA-2, HANNIBAL and others. Data analysis and consequences.
A forest fire in Greece on August 17, 2026, led to delays on submarine cables KAFOS and Kardesa, key for internet communication in the region.
Magnitude 6.1 earthquake near Port-Olry, Vanuatu. The Tamtam and ICN1 cables in the epicenter zone continue to operate stabilily.
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| Data Source | - |
Dijkstra-based routing through real submarine cables and landing points from TeleGeography data. Accurate distance multipliers for land and undersea segments.
Interactive map showing every cable your data touches - backbone nodes, landing stations, and submarine segments with real geographic coordinates.
Launch real network measurements from probes worldwide. Compare theoretical estimates with actual RTT and hop-by-hop packet journeys with ISP geolocation.
Speed-of-light physics combined with cable distance to estimate latency. See the real-world overhead - how much slower actual routing is vs fiber limits.
Enter cities, IP addresses, or domain names - everything is resolved to coordinates with hosting location identification and optimal cable route.
Traceroute hops enriched with city, country, ISP. Phases auto-detected: local → ISP → CDN → backbone → submarine cable. Visual RTT timelines.
City names, IP addresses, or domains. The system resolves coordinates, identifies countries, and determines whether the route crosses oceans.
A graph algorithm finds the optimal route through landing points and submarine cables with accurate distance multipliers for each segment type.
One click launches RIPE Atlas probes for real ping and traceroute. See actual RTT, identify every router, and find where your packet enters submarine cables.
Validate routing assumptions, estimate latency budgets, troubleshoot unexpected paths.
Understand your ping. Compare the physical speed limit vs reality for any server.
Choose optimal PoP locations based on submarine cable topology and landing proximity.
Teach how the physical internet works. Visualize the gap between light speed and real routing.
Over 500 submarine cable systems span the world's oceans, with a combined length of approximately 1.4 million kilometers - enough to circle the Earth 35 times.
Submarine cables carry over 99% of intercontinental data traffic. Despite what many people think, satellites handle only a tiny fraction of global internet traffic.
Light travels through fiber optic cable at about two-thirds the speed of light in vacuum. A signal from London to New York takes approximately 28 milliseconds one way.
Modern submarine cables are designed to last 25 years. Cables are buried in the seabed near shores and laid directly on the ocean floor in deep water, protected by layers of steel and polyethylene.
The deepest submarine cables reach the abyssal plains at nearly 8,000 meters. At these depths, cables rest on the ocean floor under enormous pressure, beyond the reach of anchors and fishing gear.
Major transoceanic cable projects like 2Africa or PEACE cost over $1 billion. Investment comes from tech giants like Google, Meta, and Microsoft, as well as telecom consortiums.
GeoCables is a research publication on the physical infrastructure of the global internet. We publish in-depth analyses of how data actually travels between countries - which submarine cables are used, what the measured latency is, and why it differs from the theoretical minimum.
Our research is grounded in real measurements from our own distributed network of measurement servers. We trace specific routes across 708 submarine cable systems and 1,900+ landing points cataloged by TeleGeography, then publish what we find.
Light through fiber travels at ~200,000 km/s - about two-thirds the speed of light in vacuum. That sets the theoretical floor for round-trip time. In practice, real RTT is 1.5-4× higher due to routing detours, optical amplifiers, protocol processing, peering between networks, and suboptimal path selection. Our research articles document this overhead on specific routes - measuring it, explaining it, and tracing it back to the cables and networks responsible.