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 716 submarine cable systems, based on real measurements from our probes worldwide.
On September 12, 2026, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake occurred 17 km west-southwest of Lixoúri, Greece. The event was localized near the Ionian Sea and had a moderate magnitude, with potential to affect nearby infrastructure. Local authorities responded promptly to assess any impacts in the region, ensuring public safety and continuity of services.
The submarine cable systems in the vicinity demonstrated robust resilience during and after the seismic activity. The Thetis cable, which connects Kavos, Greece, to regional networks, maintained an average latency of ~184ms over the past week. Similarly, the Adria-1 cable, landing at Corfu, Greece, and facilitating connectivity across the Adriatic, held steady at ~56ms. The Italy-Greece 1 (IG-1) system, linking Aethos, Greece, to Italy, also performed consistently with an average latency of ~77ms. These cables, along with others in the area, continued to carry traffic without interruption, underscoring the reliability of the infrastructure.
Monitoring of these cable systems and their corridors remains active in real time, with 2,696 latency checks conducted over the past 24 hours. The network's stability is continuously observed to ensure reliable global connectivity.
September 12, 2026 - GeoCables' network monitoring for today shows overall stability with a total of 2815 latency/route checks across 664 submarine cables. While the day was relatively quiet, there were some notable fluctuations: one anomaly and four active alerts indicate minor variations in performance. The earthquake events around cable regions - M6.6 near Indonesia, M5.9 off Timor Leste, and M5.7 west of Alaska - did not impact our monitored cables directly.
Specifically, the Italy-Libya cable experienced a latency anomaly at 4.86 times its baseline, while the Pishgaman Oman Iran (POI) Network, INDIGO-West, and Asia Connect Cable-1 (ACC-1) all showed warning alerts with significant increases in Round Trip Time (RTT). Additionally, the Jakarta-Bangka-Bintan-Batam-Singapore (B3JS), JAKABARE, Alpal-2, and Oran-Valencia cables exhibited notable changes in latency, but these were within normal operational jitter ranges. The Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE)/Cahaya Malaysia cable saw a more substantial improvement in performance.
The 6.5-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia did not affect the operation of key submarine cables, including RISING 8, JAKABARE, and Echo.
Monthly report from GeoCables own measurements: 18 cable anomalies detected (4 critical), 441 716 latency measurements across 556 routes. Verdicts, timelines, slowest and fastest observed paths.
Earthquake of magnitude 5.1 off Guam caused anomalies on submarine cables, including PPC-1. Data analysis and further monitoring.
Discover why internet traffic from Kazakhstan to Samoa routed through the US and other countries.
Analysis of the impact of the September 8, 2026 earthquake in Greece on submarine cables, including Jonah, Adria-1, and others. Anomalies were detected on the Jonah cable.
The forest fire in Indonesia caused anomalies in the operation of the Echo and INDIGO-West submarine cables. Analysis of data and possible consequences.
Learn how infrastructure and economics affect internet traffic routes between Kazakhstan and Indonesia.
A forest fire in Indonesia caused anomalies on the submarine cables INDIGO-West, MViSTA, and Echo. Analysis of delays and possible consequences for internet traffic.
| Point A | - |
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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 measurements from our own distributed network of measurement servers. We trace specific routes across 716 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.