Website Availability in Germany
Submarine cables, ISP health and blocking risks that decide whether a website loads in Germany. Checked against live measurement data.
Wondering whether a website is down for everyone or just unreachable from Germany? The answer usually hides in the physical layer of the internet. Germany 🇩🇪 connects to the global network through 11 submarine cable systems that come ashore at 9 landing stations, and its national domain zone is .de. Every request from a user in Germany to a foreign server, and every request from abroad to a site hosted in Germany, physically travels over these systems or their terrestrial backhaul.
This page summarizes what our measurement network knows about internet connectivity in Germany: which cables serve the country, how its leading internet providers are performing, and what can make a website appear offline for users there while it works everywhere else.
Current connectivity status in Germany
As of our latest hourly measurement cycle, the national internet signal of Germany is operating normally (BGP visibility and active probing dip: 0% against the 24-hour baseline). National-level signals catch large events; an individual website can still be unreachable for local reasons, which is what the availability checker above is for.
Connectivity for most users in Germany is provided by a small group of networks:
| Provider | ASN | Share of users | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| DTAG - Deutsche Telekom AG | AS3320 | 40.6% | No recent anomaly |
| VODANET - Vodafone GmbH | AS3209 | 20.4% | No recent anomaly |
| TDDE-ASN1 - Telefonica Germany GmbH & Co.OHG | AS6805 | 9.2% | No recent anomaly |
| VERSATEL - 1&1 Versatel GmbH | AS8881 | 7.8% | No recent anomaly |
| DEUTSCHE-GLASFASER - inexio Informationstechnologie und Telekommunikation Gmbh | AS8899 | 1.5% | No recent anomaly |
If a website fails to load only for customers of one of these providers, the problem is almost always local: DNS resolution inside that network, ISP-level filtering, or a routing issue, rather than the website itself being down.
Submarine cables that connect Germany to the internet
The following systems land in Germany. Cable length is a rough proxy for how much of the world a system reaches: long trunks connect continents, short ones link neighbors. Our monitors registered no significant latency anomalies on these systems in the last 30 days.
| Cable system | Length | In service since |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1) | 14,301 km | 1998 |
| IOEMA | 1,620 km | 2028 |
| C-Lion1 | 1,172 km | 2016 |
| Aurora | 500 km | 2024 |
| Elektra-GlobalConnect 1 (GC1) | 44 km | 2000 |
| GlobalConnect-KPN | 43 km | 2006 |
| Konstanz-Friedrichshafen | 26 km | 2007 |
| Fehmarn Bält | 20 km | 2000 |
| Konstanz-Meersburg | 5 km | 2010 |
| Germany-Denmark 3 | n/a | 2000 |
| IOEMA-1 | n/a | n/a |
How resilient is Germany to cable failures?
With 11 cable systems across 9 landing stations, Germany has a well diversified set of routes. A single cable fault is usually absorbed by the remaining systems, although latency to some regions can temporarily increase. Repairs at sea typically take one to several weeks, because a specialized cable ship has to locate the fault, lift the cable and splice it on deck.
Why a website may not load in Germany
When a site works in other countries but fails in Germany, the usual suspects are, in order of likelihood: a DNS problem inside a local ISP, a content delivery network misrouting users in Germany to an unhealthy edge node, a routing or peering issue between local networks and the site's host, and finally a submarine cable incident affecting the whole region.
Our DNS measurements have not flagged systematic national filtering in Germany, although individual ISPs and corporate networks can still block specific resources.
Neighbors on the same cables
These countries share submarine cable systems with Germany, so a major cable incident can affect them together:
🇳🇱 Netherlands (3 shared) · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (3 shared) · 🇺🇸 United States (1 shared)
See the full list on the website availability by country hub.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if a website is down in Germany?
Enter the URL into the free Global Availability Checker on this site. It compares measurement data from 80+ countries, including probes relevant to Germany, and shows in seconds whether the site is down everywhere or only unreachable from specific regions.
How many submarine cables connect Germany?
Germany is served by 11 submarine cable systems landing at 9 coastal stations. The longest systems are Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1), IOEMA, C-Lion1.
Why does a website work in other countries but not in Germany?
The most common causes are DNS failures inside a local ISP, CDN edge problems, routing issues between Germany and the hosting network, national filtering, and submarine cable faults. Testing the URL from multiple countries immediately narrows down which one it is.
Who are the largest internet providers in Germany?
The leading networks by user share are DTAG - Deutsche Telekom AG, VODANET - Vodafone GmbH, TDDE-ASN1 - Telefonica Germany GmbH & Co.OHG. Together they carry the majority of consumer traffic, so a problem inside any of them affects a large share of users in Germany.
Can a single cable failure disconnect Germany?
Very unlikely. A single fault is absorbed by the remaining 11 systems, though latency may rise.
Does Germany block websites?
We have not detected systematic national filtering in Germany, but individual ISPs and corporate networks can still block specific sites.
Data: GeoCables submarine cable telemetry, RIPE Atlas measurements, IODA national signals, APNIC user estimates. Numbers refresh automatically; last update July 11, 2026.