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Does True Hawaii → Asia IP Transit Even Exist?
Hey everyone,
I’m stuck out here in Honolulu chasing mythical low-latency unicorns 🦄🌊. I'm trying to find a real-life provider offering direct IP transit from Hawaii straight to Asia-Pacific without dragging packets across California first.
Two cables (SEA-US and AAG) look good on paper, but every provider I’ve talked to (HE, Cogent, OneQode, etc.) insists on a scenic detour through LA, turning my ideal 80ms trip into a sluggish 140ms+ journey.
Honolulu test box for your traceroute amusement:
test.hnl01.orion.cloud
Does anyone here actually have (or know someone who has) a legit direct APAC IP route from Hawaii? Bonus points if it includes:
- Honolulu hand-off (DRFortress/AlohaNAP, ideally)
- True APAC-first exit (Tokyo, SG, HK and etc.)
- Ability to announce my own /24 (or provider IPs are fine)
Tips, experiences, or unicorn sightings appreciated—thanks in advance! 🍻
Comments
There was one https://www.submarinenetworks.com/en/component/content/category/systems/trans-pacific/japan-us-cn?Itemid=478
That is the one that can connect but not directly; it will hit California first. All the people living in Hawaii are currently using it.
The answer remains unknown but should be capable.
Give @Neoon your subnet IP on Hawaii, he might sort you out with some quality bending, if there's any to begin with.
Oh I see you posted the test IP, but it seems to majorly use HE.net, and going via LAX might be just how they roll. You might need to try out other ISPs or DCs on your side first. I doubt you have too many to choose from, so it might not be as hard to try them all
Interesting conquest.
This map suggests, there are a few.
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/
You can get Vultr, Hawai, works from US but not from Asia.
Probably you need another box in-between
@Neoon I don’t mind setting up a box in-between, but the farthest I can reach is Guam via HE. Vultr and most other providers in Hawaii also route traffic to Asia via the US West Coast first, not directly.
We have three submarine cables, but I haven’t found any provider that actually offers a direct Asia route.
Interestingly, HE is now peering with OneQode at Guam, but OneQode doesn’t seem to allow their traffic to go through HE — so the direct path isn’t available in practice.
Not sure owning both colocation services(Guam & Hawaii) can solve this problem or not. But that cost will be huge.
This is a tricky situation without a real solution so far—quite rare to see.
If you can connect to Guam then GSL can serve you directly to Tokyo (28ms) and Sydney (70ms)
Edit: HE does not connect with GSL either at Guam. It looks like a roadblock unless you find some way to connect to Guam remotely. Have you tried speaking to OneQode or GSL to see how they can help you connect from Hawaii?
Just dive in and splice directly into the damn cable.
Indeed, Gunam looks interesting.
LA to Toyko in 140ms.
Direct ls lower with 118ms, to backhauled, meh.
@Neoon
I have tried reaching out to all the OneQode contacts, but so far only received automated replies. I also talked to HE (Hurricane Electric); they said the issue is on OneQode’s side.
Even though HE and OneQode are both present and peering at the same IX in Guam, the latency between them is still over 100 ms. It looks like they only have basic peering, not IP transit, so traffic isn’t handed over directly at Guam.
I haven’t contacted GSL yet, not sure how they can help.
Honestly, this seems like a rare situation where even with both networks present and peered, there’s no true direct route because there’s no transit agreement in place.
That is most of the time the cause, that they don't have transit and just peering.