Roads woven like a net

The internet is a net

When you look at the whole Earth, the undersea cable is not just one line. The whole world is linked by countless lines, woven together like a net. So even if one line breaks, the route-finding machines find another way around. The detour is a little longer, so it takes a little more time.

Why?If there were only one road, everything would stop when it was blocked. Streets in a town branch in many directions, so you can go around one that is closed. The internet was built from the start to connect in many ways.

Learn moreThe name "internet" means "connecting nets to other nets." There are about 600 undersea cables. Laid end to end, they would stretch more than 1.4 million km — enough to wrap around the Earth more than 35 times.

Time

Outside the timeline · world map

Simplified route · light in glass at about 200,000 km per second