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 12, 2026, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake occurred 42 km east-southeast of Naalehu, Hawaii. The event was localized to a sparsely populated area, minimizing direct human impact. Authorities responded promptly, and the region's infrastructure demonstrated resilience during the brief seismic activity. Monitoring systems tracked the event in real time, ensuring situational awareness for critical operations.
Submarine cable systems in the vicinity, including the Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN) and Honotua, maintained stable performance throughout the event. SCCN, which connects Hawaii to broader Pacific regions and lands at Spencer Beach, Hawaii (141 km from the earthquake), sustained an average latency of ~154ms across 68 checks over the past week. Similarly, Honotua, landing at Kawaihae, Hawaii (144 km from the epicenter), held its baseline latency of ~177ms across 9 checks during the same period. These systems continued to carry traffic seamlessly, underscoring their robustness against seismic disturbances.
Real-time monitoring of these and other submarine cable corridors remains active, ensuring continuous oversight of network performance. The infrastructure's ability to withstand environmental events like this highlights its reliability and the effectiveness of ongoing surveillance efforts.
On August 12, 2026, GeoCables reported a calm day with no anomalies detected across its monitored submarine cable network. Over the last 24 hours, 2355 latency/route checks were conducted on 652 cables, reflecting ongoing stable performance. The single active alert for Taiwan Strait Express-1 (TSE-1) indicates some increased latency (+194% RTT), which is worth monitoring but does not suggest a critical issue.
The per-cable signals showed normal jitter and fluctuations. Notably, the Meltingpot Indianoceanic Submarine System (METISS) experienced a decrease of 55.0ms compared to its average over the past week, while other cables like Medusa Submarine Cable System and India Europe Xpress (IEX) saw increases in latency. These changes are within expected ranges for routine network variations and do not indicate any significant disruptions.
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck near San José-del-Palmar, Colombia. The South American Crossing submarine cable withstood the shock.
The forest fire in Spain caused anomalies on the submarine cables ACE and Maroc Telecom West Africa. Analysis of data and possible risks.
Analysis of Ras Ghareb chokepoint: 17 undersea cables, critical risks, and its impact on international connectivity.
Traffic between Israel and South Africa routes through London, increasing delays fourfold.
A deep dive into Tong Fuk's chokepoint, where 17 undersea cables converge. Explore how geography shapes routes and the impact of a break.
Analysis of Romania's internet infrastructure: submarine cables, isolation risks, and the impact of governance and conflicts.
A magnitude 6 earthquake struck off the coast of Vanuatu. The submarine cables Tamtam and ICN1 maintained functionality, ensuring stability in regional connectivity.
Earthquake magnitude 4.7 near Santa Doménica, Italy, caused anomalies on submarine cables MedNautilus, OTEGLOBE Kokkini-Bari, and Adria-1. Details and monitoring data.
| Point A | - |
|---|---|
| Point B | - |
| Coordinates A | - |
| Coordinates B | - |
| Cable Multiplier | - |
| Crosses Ocean | - |
| Route Details | - |
| 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 RIPE Atlas measurements collected from five probes we operate in Minsk, Almaty, Tbilisi, Jerusalem, and Sevastopol. 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.