I used a similar map ten years ago when teaching a class for gen ed freshman undergraduates about “the internet” (mostly cultural topics with a bit of technical flavor). It’s interesting how things have changed a little since then - for example, there used to be no direct link between South America and Africa (a fact that we confirmed in my class with a traceroute). Now there are four cables.
The submarine cable map was consistently a student favorite and a big “wow” moment in the class. Many of them said they had thought all the Internet traffic went over satellite.
Interesting that the US and Russia get so close to touching and yet I don't see any cables going between the two countries. All our west coast cables seem to go south to Japan/China/Australia.
Almost none of the Russian population lives on the East coast of the country. To be useful, they would have to have overland cables going thousands of miles. It's much easier to get to the bulk of their population from the west via Europe.
Not a strong disagree or anything, yet Khabarovsk (~617,000)[1], Vladivostok (~605,000)[2], and Yakutsk (~312,000)[3] are somewhat large in the Far East. There's probably an economic case for 1.5 million citizens access.
Admittedly, it's probably much easier to go through China, Korea, or Japan if those countries are accepting. There's decades of political and social issues to wade through with Russia / US cables, vs just going to China, Korea, or Japan, and then jumping over the Pacific. Canada would likely also be an easier possibility.
Which is pretty much what it looks like Russia did with the Hokkaido-Sakhalin Cable System[4], and Russia-Japan Cable Network.[5]
Other active discussion about submarine cables:
A Technical Update on Submarine Cables [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45119310 - Sept 2025 (17 comments)
Just this morning I came across and reread “Mother Earth Mother Board” Wired article from December 1996:
https://web.archive.org/web/20151029000518/https://www.wired...
This is incredibly enjoyable read!
Previous discussions of note:
- 6 Oct 2022: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33110478> (175pts, 62 comments
- 7 Nov 2020: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25020431> (235pts, 135 comments
Thanks! Here's the full list:
Interactive Submarine Cable Map - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33110478 - Oct 2022 (61 comments)
Submarine Cable Map - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25020431 - Nov 2020 (134 comments)
Submarine cable map - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13614598 - Feb 2017 (35 comments)
Map of Undersea Internet Cables - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10163461 - Sept 2015 (13 comments)
Submarine Cable Map - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9216894 - March 2015 (39 comments)
Submarine Cable Map - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3643749 - Feb 2012 (109 comments)
I used a similar map ten years ago when teaching a class for gen ed freshman undergraduates about “the internet” (mostly cultural topics with a bit of technical flavor). It’s interesting how things have changed a little since then - for example, there used to be no direct link between South America and Africa (a fact that we confirmed in my class with a traceroute). Now there are four cables.
The submarine cable map was consistently a student favorite and a big “wow” moment in the class. Many of them said they had thought all the Internet traffic went over satellite.
Interesting that the US and Russia get so close to touching and yet I don't see any cables going between the two countries. All our west coast cables seem to go south to Japan/China/Australia.
Almost none of the Russian population lives on the East coast of the country. To be useful, they would have to have overland cables going thousands of miles. It's much easier to get to the bulk of their population from the west via Europe.
Not a strong disagree or anything, yet Khabarovsk (~617,000)[1], Vladivostok (~605,000)[2], and Yakutsk (~312,000)[3] are somewhat large in the Far East. There's probably an economic case for 1.5 million citizens access.
Admittedly, it's probably much easier to go through China, Korea, or Japan if those countries are accepting. There's decades of political and social issues to wade through with Russia / US cables, vs just going to China, Korea, or Japan, and then jumping over the Pacific. Canada would likely also be an easier possibility.
Which is pretty much what it looks like Russia did with the Hokkaido-Sakhalin Cable System[4], and Russia-Japan Cable Network.[5]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khabarovsk
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladivostok
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakutsk
[4] https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/hokkaido-s...
[5] https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/russia-jap...
Both Russia and the USA have cables there though, they're just not connected.
Gray cables are planned, not yet laid.
Perhaps a more current and newsworthy topic discussion related to this:
Microsoft Azure: "Multiple international subsea cables were cut in the Red Sea"
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45152773
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