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 705 submarine cable systems, based on real measurements from our probes worldwide.
On July 29, 2026, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake occurred 7 km west of Honmachi, Japan. The event impacted a localized area near Fukuoka, Japan, with a population of approximately 1.6 million. The tremor was brief, and response teams quickly assessed the affected region. Infrastructure evaluations followed to ensure the continuity of essential services.
Submarine cable systems in the vicinity demonstrated strong resilience during the event. The Korea-Japan Cable Network (KJCN), connecting Fukuoka, Japan, and Busan, South Korea, maintained its average latency of approximately 43 milliseconds throughout the period. This performance highlights the robustness of the infrastructure in a region prone to seismic activity. Monitoring across 702 submarine cable systems, including KJCN and others, confirmed stable operations as traffic continued uninterrupted.
Real-time monitoring of these critical corridors remains active, ensuring consistent oversight of latency and operational stability. The network continues to deliver reliable connectivity, supported by ongoing checks and evaluations across all monitored systems.
July 29, 2026 was a quiet day for GeoCables' network monitoring. With 2276 latency/route checks across 656 submarine cables and no anomalies detected, the overall health of the network remained stable. Despite the two active alerts—Matrix Cable System showing a significant increase in Round Trip Time (RTT) by +124% and Taiwan Strait Express-1 with a warning alert due to increased RTT by +194%—these movements are within normal operational jitter and do not indicate any major issues.
The per-cable signals worth noting today include the Cross-Straits Cable Network (CSCN) showing a notable increase in latency, up 394%, from its seven-day average. This could be due to temporary network conditions or local factors. Other cables like Sihanoukville-Hong Kong (SHV-HK), South Atlantic Cable System (SACS), and Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE)/Cahaya Malaysia also showed increases, but within a reasonable range of normal variability. The Adria-1 cable, however, saw a significant improvement in latency by 78%, indicating stable performance.
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.
The forest fire in Algeria causes anomalies on submarine cables, including the HANNIBAL System. Analysis of indicators and risks.
Discover how data routes take unexpected detours due to infrastructure and peering.
An analysis of Saint Pierre and Miquelon's internet connectivity: geography, isolation, submarine cables, and infrastructure risks.
Discover how internet data from South Africa to Guyana travels through Europe and the US.
Magnitude 7.4 earthquake off Puerto Madero, Mexico. Submarine cables, including SPCS and AMX-1, withstood the shocks.
Magnitude 6.7 earthquake off Loyalty Islands on July 13, 2026. How submarine cables Gondwana-2 and Tamtam held up during the event.
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| Point B | - |
| Coordinates A | - |
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| 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 705 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.