Two Routes to Taiwan: Eurasia in 217ms vs America in 345ms

Taiwan is 7,500km from Tbilisi and 7,000km from Minsk—roughly the same distance. Yet, the internet routes are entirely different.

Our probe in Tbilisi sends a packet to Taiwan, traveling west through Belgrade, Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt, Paris, London, crossing the Atlantic to Montreal, passing through five American cities from Detroit to San Francisco, and only then crossing the Pacific to Taipei. This journey spans 32 hops, 345ms, and three continents.

Meanwhile, our probe in Minsk sends the same packet, traveling east through Moscow, making a single jump to Frankfurt, then Hong Kong, and finally Taiwan. This route covers 17 hops, 217ms, and one continent.

Same destination, but a difference of 128ms and 15 hops. Why?

Two Carriers, Two Philosophies

The answer lies in the very first visible hop after leaving the local network.

The Tbilisi packet enters Cogent Communications (AS174), an American Tier-1 carrier headquartered in Washington, DC. Cogent's network, built in the 1990s, reflects its origins as an American company: it first covered the US, then expanded to Europe. While Cogent operates transatlantic and transpacific cables, it lacks a direct Europe-to-Asia cable. Consequently, any Asian traffic via Cogent loops through the US—this is not an exception but the architecture itself.

The Minsk packet enters TransTeleCom (AS20485), a subsidiary of Russian Railways (RZD). TTK's network runs along railway lines, leveraging thousands of kilometers of fiber along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok, then into China. This is a terrestrial fiber route, not a submarine cable, spanning the world's longest railway. Frankfurt to Hong Kong in one hop, 167ms, across the entire Eurasian continent.

Cogent's architecture relies on oceanic routes via the Atlantic and Pacific, while TTK's architecture is continental, traversing Eurasia. Both reach Taiwan, but by fundamentally different paths.

The American Route

*Paris anomaly: routers process ICMP with low priority—real delay is closer to 30ms.

The Atlantic jump Liverpool→Montreal spans 161ms for ~5,500km. This likely utilizes the TAT-14 submarine cable connecting Liverpool to Canada.

HiNet appears in San Jose at hops 27-28, belonging to HiNet (AS9680), Taiwan's state provider Chunghwa Telecom. This is where Cogent hands off to the Taiwanese operator.

The San Jose→Los Angeles jump: 207ms→329ms reflects the packet's Pacific crossing. While geolocation shows "Los Angeles," the actual path is San Jose → submarine cable → Taiwan.

The Eurasian Route

Moscow→Frankfurt in 36ms highlights TTK's efficient terrestrial route through Poland and Germany, completing the journey in just 25ms from Moscow.

Carrier handoff in Frankfurt occurs at hop 10, where CTGNet (AS23764)—China Telecom Global—takes over. Frankfurt serves as one of China Telecom's major peering points in Europe.

Frankfurt→Hong Kong in 167ms spans ~9,200km via a terrestrial route along the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok, then onward to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong→Taiwan in 37ms completes the journey via Data Communication Business Group (AS3462), Taiwan's state operator.

Why the Land Route Is Faster Than the Sea Route

The results may seem counterintuitive: the route through Russia and China is 217ms, while the route through the US is 345ms. The overland path through two "difficult" states proves faster than the maritime path through democracies.

The explanation lies in geometry and architecture.

Geometry. The direct line Minsk→Taiwan through Russia and China is about 7,000km. The route via the Atlantic, US, and Pacific is approximately 20,000km. Physics is unambiguous: fewer kilometers mean fewer milliseconds.

Tbilisi, located further south, could benefit from an even shorter overland route through Central Asia. However, Cogent lacks infrastructure in that region, so traffic follows Cogent's existing footprint—across the Atlantic.

Architecture. TransTeleCom was purpose-built to connect Europe to Asia by land. The Trans-Siberian Railway provides a 9,000km straight track from Moscow to Vladivostok, with fiber following the same direct path. This eliminates oceanic detours and intermediate continents.

Cogent, as an American operator, expanded its network outward from the US. Europe was an extension, and Asia another. The US remains mandatory transit between them.

Taiwan in the Global Topology

Taiwan connects to the world via Hong Kong to the west and the US to the east. Both directions carry geopolitical vulnerabilities. Taiwan is actively diversifying its connectivity with new cables to Japan, the Philippines, and direct routes to the US, bypassing Hong Kong.

Our traceroutes reflect this reality: Belarusian traffic routes via Hong Kong (western path), while Georgian traffic routes via San Jose (eastern path). Each route has distinct vulnerabilities—one tied to Hong Kong's political landscape, the other to Cogent's architectural constraints.

Monitoring

GeoCables actively tracks both routes in real time using dedicated probes in Minsk and Tbilisi, integrated into the network.

• Minsk → Taiwan: 217ms | TransTeleCom → CTGNet → HiNet | via Eurasia

• Tbilisi → Taiwan: 345ms | Cogent → HiNet | via America

Any changes in the geopolitical landscape affecting these paths will be immediately visible in our traceroutes.

Want to calculate your own route to Taiwan? Try the GeoCables Calculator →