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Global network with multiple paths routing around a failed node

How the Internet Keeps Traffic Moving When Networks Fail

Summary

Global connectivity relies on multiple paths, independent networks and mechanisms that can reroute traffic around failures.

There is rarely only one path

Internet traffic crosses many independent networks. When a link or node becomes unavailable, routing can often adapt and select a different path to the destination.

That does not make every outage invisible. An alternative route may be slower or there may not be enough redundancy in a particular area. Even so, the Internet's distributed structure is one reason many local failures do not automatically become global disruptions.

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