The Longest Route We've Ever Measured: Oman to Chile at 452ms
Based on real RIPE Atlas measurements from GeoCables monitoring infrastructure, March 2026
At
452 milliseconds average, the route from Oman to Chile is the highest-latency path in our entire measurement database. But what makes it truly remarkable isn't the number — it's the journey. A packet leaving Barka, Oman doesn't take the shortest path across the Indian Ocean. It travels east to Singapore, crosses the Pacific to Japan, cuts across the continental United States, and only then crosses into South America to reach Valparaíso, Chile.
Total distance traveled: approximately
35,000 km. The circumference of Earth is 40,075 km.
The Route in Numbers
Our RIPE Atlas probe in Barka, Oman has been measuring this route continuously since early March 2026, with measurements every ~15 hours:
| Date | RTT (ms) | Notes |
|---|
| Mar 2, 2026 | 461ms | Baseline |
| Mar 3, 2026 | 428ms | Normal |
| Mar 4, 2026 | 426ms | Normal |
| Mar 5, 2026 | 426ms | Normal |
| Mar 6, 2026 | 514ms | Anomaly spike |
| Mar 7, 2026 | 564ms | Peak anomaly |
| Mar 8, 2026 | 428ms | Recovered |
| Mar 9, 2026 | 427ms | Normal |
The baseline is ~427ms, but on March 5–7 we observed a significant spike to 514–564ms — a 32% increase suggesting congestion or partial rerouting on one of the submarine cable segments.
The Real Path: Traceroute Reveals Everything
A traceroute from our probe in Barka reveals the complete picture:
| Hop | Location | Network | RTT |
|---|
| 1–2 | Barka → Muscat, OM | Awaser Oman / Zain Omantel (AS8529) | 6ms |
| 3–4 | Muscat, OM | Zain Omantel International | 6ms |
| 5–7 | Singapore, SG | Zain Omantel → China Mobile (AS58453) | 79ms |
| 8 | Singapore, SG | TATA Communications (AS6453) | 409ms |
| 10 | Tokyo, JP | TATA Communications (AS6453) | 313ms |
| 11 | Los Angeles, US | TATA Communications (AS6453) | 310ms |
| 14 | Dallas, US | TATA Communications (AS6453) | 307ms |
| 15–16 | Miami, US | TATA Communications (AS6453) | 395ms |
| 17–18 | Santiago, CL | Telmex Chile (AS6429) | 408ms |
| 19 | Santiago, CL | NIC Chile (AS27678) | 426ms |
The most dramatic moment in this traceroute is
hop 8: the RTT jumps from 79ms in Singapore to 409ms — a single leap of
330ms. This is where the packet enters a transpacific submarine cable system operated by TATA Communications, crossing from Southeast Asia to Japan.
Three Oceans in One Route
Leg 1 — Indian Ocean (Barka → Singapore):
Zain Omantel's network carries traffic from Muscat eastward. The RTT of 79ms for the Muscat–Singapore segment (~5,900 km) is consistent with the
SeaMeWe-5 or
AAE-1 cable systems, both of which have landing points near Muscat and in Singapore.
Leg 2 — Pacific Ocean (Singapore → Los Angeles):
TATA Communications (AS6453) takes over in Singapore. The massive RTT jump at hop 8 (79ms → 409ms) marks the entry onto a transpacific cable — most likely
TGN-Pacific or a similar TATA-operated system. The packet surfaces in Tokyo before heading to Los Angeles, covering roughly 15,000 km of open ocean.
Leg 3 — Americas (Los Angeles → Santiago → Valparaíso):
From Los Angeles, the traffic travels across the continental United States to Dallas, then to Miami, where it enters the Caribbean and South American network. From Miami, it crosses into Chile via a cable likely connecting to
SAM-1 (South America-1) or
South American Crossing (SAC), both of which land in Valparaíso.
Why Not the Shorter Path?
Option A — Westward through Europe and Atlantic (~280ms theoretical):
Oman → Red Sea → Suez Canal → Mediterranean → Atlantic → Brazil → Chile. This would use cables like EIG, AAE-1, or SEA-ME-WE 4/5. Estimated RTT: 280–320ms.
Option B — Direct Indian Ocean + Southern Pacific (~200ms theoretical):
Barka is connected to the
Oman-Australia Cable (OAC), which opened in 2022. From Australia, cables like
Hawaiki connect to New Zealand and onward to Chile. Valparaíso has landing points for SAM-1, SPCSMISTRAL, and SAC. The direct path exists — but BGP ignores it.
Why BGP Routing Ignores Geography
1. TATA's global backbone dominance: Once Zain Omantel hands off traffic to China Mobile in Singapore, and China Mobile hands it to TATA, the packet follows TATA's internal routing — which sends South American destinations via the Pacific to the US, then down through the Americas.
2. No direct peering to OAC: The Oman-Australia Cable is relatively new and primarily serves Oman–Australia enterprise traffic. It doesn't yet have the carrier relationships to route general internet traffic from Oman to South America.
3. Traffic aggregation in the US: Miami is the de facto internet hub for South America. Major carriers route Latin American traffic through Miami regardless of origin.
The March 5–7 Anomaly
The spike from 426ms to 564ms over March 5–7 — a 138ms increase — suggests congestion on the TGN-Pacific segment, partial rerouting due to a cable fault, or scheduled maintenance pushing traffic to backup paths. Recovery to baseline by March 8 confirms temporary congestion rather than a cable break.
What an Optimal Route Would Look Like
Oman → OAC → Australia → Southern Cross/Hawaiki → Chile:
- Barka → Perth via OAC: ~65ms
- Perth → Sydney → Auckland → Valparaíso: ~140ms
-
Total theoretical RTT: ~200–220ms — a 2× improvement over current 427ms.
Monitoring Status
GeoCables monitors the Barka → Valparaíso route via RIPE Atlas probe 65614, every ~15 hours.
-
Current RTT: 427ms
Peak: 564ms (anomaly Mar 7)
-
Path: Zain Omantel → China Mobile → TATA Communications → Telmex Chile
This route remains the highest-latency path in our database — proof that in the global internet, geography and routing are two very different things.