https://www.technologyreview.com/s/540721/first-detailed-public-map-of-us-internet-backbone-could-make-it-stronger/ Notice the large black just right of Toledo. Splits 1/2 to Chicago and 1/2 to Chicago via Detroit going west. This results the maximum lines in one place in chicago being half of that of toledo. Chicago has many lines but they travel along many different tracks. -------------------------------------------- http://www.vox.com/a/internet-maps Section 6: Notice that the internet lines go thru toledo. -------------------------------------------- http://www.nthelp.com/maps.htm This section obtained from above map. Communication Lines going thru Toledo, Ohio DS is Digital Signal OC is Optical Carrier / fiber optic cable AGIS 45 Mbps 1 DS-3 Line Detroit to Pittsburg ANS 90 Mbps 2 DS-3 Lines Chicago to Clevland ATMnet 155 Mbps 1 OC-3 line Detroit to Pittsburg BBNplanet 90 Mbps DS-3 Lines Chicago and Detroit to Clevland Compuserve 45 Mbps DS-3 Line Chicago to Boston CRL 45 Mbps DS-3 Detroit to Clevland CWIX 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicago to Akron DataXchange 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicato to Washington DC DIGEX 45 Mbps DS-3 Detroit to Columbus Epoch 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicago to Vienna GetNet Likely 45 Mbps DS-3 Santa Clara to Pittsburg Global Center 45 Mbps DS-3 Seattle to Whippany 45 Mbps DS-3 Seattle to Vienna 45 Mbps DS-3 Minneapolis Whippany 45 Mbps DS-3 Minneapolis Vienna 45 Mbps Ds-3 Chicago Whippany 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicago Vienna 45 Mbps DS-3 San Jose Whippany Likely 45 Mbps DS-3 San Jose Vienna Likely 45 Mbps DS-3 Phoenix Whippany Likely 45 Mbps DS-3 Phoenix Vienna GoodNet 45 Mbps DS-3 San Jose New York 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicago New York 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicago Washington DC Likely 45 Mbps DS-3 Phoenix Washington Likely 45 Mbps DS-3 Los Angeles Washington DC GridNet 45 Mbps DS-3 San Francisco Newark Likely 45 Mbps DS-3 Los Angeles New York IBM 45 Mbps DS-3 Detroit Collumbus InternetMCI 45 Mbps DS-3 Willow Springs Charlton 155 Mbps OC-3 Downers Grove North Royalton 155 Mbps OC-3 Willow Springs West Orange 155 Mbps OC-3 Denver West Orange 155 Mbps OC-3 Willow Springs Washington DC iStaR Canada Company NapNet 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicago Vienna 45 Mbps DS-3 San Jose Vienna Netrail NSF 2 Mbps T-1 Ann Arbor Pittsburgh 2 Mbps T-1 Ann Arbor Ithaca NY PsiNet 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicago Toledo Dublin 45 Mbps DS-3 Detroit Toledo Savvis 45 Mbps DS-3 Detroit Pittsburgh Sprint 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicago New York 45 Mbps DS-3 Stockton New York UUNet 45 Mbps DS-3 Detroit Clevland 45 Mbps DS-3 Windsor Clevland 45 Mbps DS-3 Minneapolis Pittsburg 45 Mbps DS-3 San Francisco New York 5,000 Mbps OC-48x2 Chicago New York 2,500 Mbps OC-48 St Louis New York 620 Mbps OC-12 Salt Lake City New York 620 Mbps OC-12 Sacramento New York 620 Mbps OC-12 Chicago Cleveland 45 Mbps DS-3 Chicago Newark ----------------------------------------- OVH 80,000 Mbps (80 Gbytes) OC-768x2 https://www.ovh.com/us/about-us/network.xml http://research.dyn.com/2016/04/a-bakers-dozen-2015-edition/ There are 6 MAIN Tier 1 Fiber Optic Networks: All 6 go thru Toledo http://www.level3.com/~/media/files/maps/en-network-services-level-3-network-map.ashx http://www.teliacarriermap.com/ http://www.us.ntt.net/about/network-map.cfm http://www.cogentco.com/files/images/network/network_map/networkmap_global_large.jpg https://www.gtt.net/our-network/ http://map.tatacommunications.com/#/ Level 3 Chicago Toledo Ann Arbor Toledo Detroit Toledo Toledo Clevland Telia Carrier 2 san Joe New York 1 Chicago Clevland 1 chicato New York NTT 2 Seattle New York 2 Chicago New York 1 Chicago Boston Cogent South Bend Toledo Detroit Toledo Cleveland Toledo Gtt Chicago New York Chicago Washington DC Minneapolis New York San Francisco New York Tata Chicago New York 16 Fiber Optic Cables going thru Toledo results in 32 Fiber Optic Connections as they go two directions each. These are only with the top Tier 1 providers there are others like above MCI, UUNet and OVH. The highest number of communication companies (Over 30) and the highest number of data communication lines (Over 75) in the world. FCC has established that data lines have puplic usage rights and now requires selling data capacity to competitors.