The suffering is ending: Vietnam’s internet sea cable will be back in 2014

If you’re in Vietnam, you know by now that the internet has been ridiculously slow for the past week and a half due to an accident that severed the sub-marine sea cable that connects Vietnam to the rest of the internet world. The cable that was severed this time is the Asia-American Gateway (pictured above), which connects Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and a few other Asian countries to America. The part that Vietnam is connected to got severed. Well, it’s coming back next year, in early January.

This is not the first time this has happened in Vietnam. The same cable broke twice in 2011 and once in 2012. It is not clear what has been causing the consistent break in the cables. Some news sources have attributed it to a weak cable that broke due to wear and tear, others attribute it to a ship’s anchor hitting the cables.

It was looking like 2013 was going to come away with a smooth year with no internet interruptions, but Vietnamese netizens were rewarded just in time for Christmas with slow internet. What better gift than time away from your computer for the holidays?

Then again, as the Oatmeal notes, we hate slow internet more than we hate no internet.

Bonus, if you want to learn more about the world’s sea cables, check them out in this interactive map.

(Editing by Terence Lee)