I saw a map of undersea internet cables the other day and it’s crazy how many branches there are. It got me wondering - if I’m (based in the UK) playing an online game from someone in Japan for example, how is the route worked out? Does my ISP know that to get to place X, the data has to be routed via cable 1, cable 2 etc. but to get to place Z it needs to go via cable 3, 4?

  • FuglyDuckEnglish
    7•8 months ago

    it doesn’t send it down the correct cable. It sends it on.

    Imagine your friends. you need to talk to somebody. Lets call him Garry. You don’t know Garry’s contact info. So instead, you pull out your phone, and text Sally, asking her to ask Garry if he knows where your glasses are. Sally pretty much knows every one. Or at least, you thought she did. Reality is she sent to to Becky who sends it on to Steve. Now, Steve is the one who invited Becky to Garry’s party, and because… reasons, Becky invited Sally who invited you… so now, Steve relays the question to Garry.

    Garry hasn’t seen your glasses, but, he does have a weird set of car keys with a giant Charzard key fob… maybe they’re yours? So, he sends his reply to Steve, which forwards it to Becky, who sends it to Sally, who giggles and asks if you really have a charzard key fob.

    You get the idea. Only unlike people, the data usually doesn’t get mangled.