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 716 submarine cable systems, based on real measurements from our probes worldwide.
On September 21, 2026, a magnitude 5.0 earthquake occurred 38 km east of Nobeoka, Japan. The event affected the surrounding region, with local authorities assessing its impact and coordinating responses. While the earthquake was moderate in scale, its proximity to coastal areas underscored the importance of resilient infrastructure in regions prone to seismic activity.
Submarine cable systems in the vicinity demonstrated their robustness during the event. The Guam Okinawa Kyushu Incheon (GOKI) system, which connects Kitakyushu, Japan, with other key hubs in East Asia, maintained an average latency of ~118ms over recent checks. Similarly, the Korea-Japan Cable Network (KJCN), linking Kitakyushu to Korea, held steady with an average latency of ~73ms. These systems, both landing within 169 km of the earthquake's epicenter, continued to carry traffic seamlessly, showcasing their ability to withstand seismic disturbances.
Our monitoring operations remain active, with 1,946 latency checks conducted across 713 submarine cable systems in the last 24 hours. These systems are under continuous observation to ensure their performance and resilience, providing reliable connectivity across critical corridors.
September 21, 2026 - GeoCables' network monitoring for today showed a clean and stable day with no anomalies or active alerts across the 654 submarine cables we track. Our 1925 latency/route checks confirmed the overall health of the network, indicating that the majority of connections remained smooth and reliable.
Notable fluctuations in specific cables included increases for JAKABARE (+152%) and Equiano (+106%), which are within normal operational jitter. Other significant changes were observed with the Indonesia Global Gateway (IGG) System (+43%) and Asia Connect Cable-1 (+21%). Conversely, the Hawaiki Nui 1 cable showed a decrease of -15%, while MIST experienced a reduction of -27% and Batam Dumai Melaka (-45%) also saw minor fluctuations. These changes are typical of day-to-day variations and do not indicate any significant issues.
On 25 mornings in 2026 Iraq lost two thirds of its connectivity at the same hour, never on a Friday. Our monitor noticed the pattern, switched to 5-minute resolution and measured every window: 90 minutes in June, 40 in September.
Magnitude 6.5 earthquake near Nikolski, Alaska, and its impact on the AU-Aleutian submarine cable. Infrastructure endured the shock.
The 6.3 magnitude earthquake near Nikolski, Alaska, did not affect the operation of the submarine cable AU-Aleutian. The infrastructure continues to function normally.
Discover why internet traffic from Kazakhstan to Micronesia routes through Moscow, causing increased delays.
Magnitude 5.1 earthquake off Saipan caused anomalies on submarine cables TPU, GOKI, HANTRU1, and SEA-US. Analysis of consequences.
Why do data from South Africa to Brazil go through the US, increasing latency?
On Maïotka there are three submarine cables, but only one connection to the main networks. We'll look at what the others do and what our measurements show.
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.
| 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 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 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.