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.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake occurred on July 14, 2026, approximately 14 kilometers west-southwest of Mabiton, Philippines. The event affected nearby communities and infrastructure within the region, with emergency response teams assessing the situation. While the earthquake's impact was localized, its proximity to critical submarine cable landing points highlights the importance of robust infrastructure in maintaining connectivity during natural events.
The submarine cable systems in the area demonstrated resilience, carrying traffic seamlessly through the event. For example, the Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network (PDSCN), which connects Bulan, Philippines, to other domestic locations, maintained its average latency of ~254ms across 15 checks over the past week. Similarly, the Submarine Cable in the Philippines (SCiP), landing at Matnog, Philippines, held steady at ~251ms during the same period. These systems, along with others such as the Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE) landing at Daet (~128ms avg), continued to perform reliably, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity.
Monitoring of these cable corridors remains active in real time, with 2325 latency checks conducted across 701 submarine cable systems in the last 24 hours. This ongoing vigilance ensures the infrastructure's stability and readiness to support global communications under varying conditions.
July 14, 2026 - Today's network monitoring across GeoCables showed an overall healthy state with no anomalies detected. Despite the presence of four significant earthquakes in regions near submarine cable routes, our systems remained stable, and only one active alert was observed. The scale of our monitoring covered 659 submarine cables with 2281 latency/route checks, indicating a calm day without any major disruptions.
Notable changes in real-time performance were seen across several cables. The Unisur cable experienced a warning alert due to a significant increase in round-trip time (RTT) by 105%. Other cables like Global Caribbean Network (GCN), Equiano, and Sint Maarten Puerto Rico Network One (SMPR-1) also showed increased latency but within normal jitter ranges. These changes are typical of the network's dynamic behavior and do not indicate any critical issues.
Magnitude 6.7 earthquake off Loyalty Islands on July 13, 2026. How submarine cables Gondwana-2 and Tamtam held up during the event.
An internet packet's astonishing journey: from South Africa to Palau via Europe.
An analysis of a critical underwater cable hub near Sharm El-Sheikh: 18 cables, potential risks, and the impact of possible disruptions.
Analysis of the consequences of the M5.1 earthquake near Tambolaka (Indonesia) for submarine cables, including the IGG System and others.
An analysis of Kazakhstan's internet infrastructure: submarine cables, censorship, risks, and unique geographical factors.
Analysis of the consequences of the M5.2 earthquake in the Philippines for submarine cables, including IGG System and Apricot.
Why are underwater cables concentrated near Jeddah? A geographic breakdown of the area with 18 cables, exploring depths, coasts, and shipping.
| 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 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.