Smart Cable Routing
Dijkstra-based routing through real submarine cables and landing points from the industry cable inventory. Accurate distance multipliers for land and undersea segments.
In-depth analysis of how internet traffic moves through 723 submarine cable systems, based on real measurements from our probes worldwide.
On October 17, 2026, a magnitude 4.5 earthquake occurred 59 km north-northwest of Ruteng, Indonesia. The event was localized, with its impact primarily concentrated within the immediate region. Authorities continue to monitor the area for any aftershocks or related developments, ensuring safety and preparedness for the affected population.
Submarine cable systems in the vicinity demonstrated robust resilience during the event. The Indonesia Tengah Cable Systems, which connects Labuhan Bajo (61 km from the epicenter) to broader networks, maintained its average latency of approximately 254 ms. Similarly, Palapa Ring East, landing at Waingapu (171 km from the epicenter), held steady at around 259 ms. These systems, along with others like Link 1 Phase-1 and Barat Timur Indonesia-2 (BTI-2), continued to carry traffic seamlessly, underscoring the reliability of the infrastructure in this seismically active region.
Real-time monitoring of these and other submarine cable systems remains ongoing. With 1901 latency checks conducted across 720 systems in the past 24 hours, the network's performance is under constant observation to ensure uninterrupted connectivity and rapid response to any future events.
October 17, 2026 was a quiet day for GeoCables' network monitoring, with no anomalies or active alerts recorded. Over the past 24 hours, we conducted 2039 latency/route checks across 662 submarine cables, ensuring a stable and healthy network performance.
Notable fluctuations in specific cables included Norte Conectado (Infovia 00) with an increase of 15%, Amitie with a significant rise of 38%, and Norte Conectado (Infovia 03) and East Micronesia Cable System (EMCS) showing minor decreases. These changes are within the expected range for normal network jitter and do not indicate any underlying issues.
All cable incidents, each with its own report →
Flooding in Syria caused anomalies on submarine cables, including Ebla and Ugarit. Analysis of data and possible consequences.
Flooding in Jordan led to anomalies on submarine cables in the region, including BERYTAR, IMEWE and others.
The 6-magnitude earthquake that occurred near Kokopo, Papua-New Guinea, on October 13, 2026, did not affect the operation of the Kumul and Coral Sea submarine cables.
Magnitude 6.1, earthquake near Río Grande, Panama. Cable infrastructure, including CSN-1, Curie, and PCCS, withstood the impact.
The M6.2 earthquake off Papua-New Guinea did not affect the operation of the Kumul and Coral Sea submarine cables.
Magnitude 4.6 earthquake in Santa Cruz, Philippines affected the operation of submarine cables, including APCN-2, ADC, and others.
The magnitude 6 earthquake near La Trozos, Panama, tested the resilience of the submarine cables PAC, Curie, PCCS, and others. The infrastructure operates normally.
magnitude 6.6 earthquake near Rio Grande, Panama. Analysis of submarine cables in the zone: Alisios, Curie, PCCS, CSN-1, and others.
| 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 the industry cable inventory. 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 our own measurement network 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 723 submarine cable systems and 1,900+ landing points in the global cable inventory, 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.
We run our own measurement network worldwide and watch in real time how traffic moves through submarine cables: where latency climbs, where links drop, what is happening right now. Open the live map to see network health and where it is noisy.