How long did it end up taking to get Tonga back online?

When a volcanic eruption and ensuing tsunami knocked out the Internet in Tonga last month, experts guessed that it would take about two weeks to restore the connection. It ended up taking more than twice that long.

Engadget reported this week that the majority of Tonga had been reconnected to the Internet. The main island, Tongatapu, as well as the island 'Eua finally got their connections restored after five weeks. It took the submarine Reliance 20 days to make repairs to a 57-mile section of the lone undersea cable that provides Tonga’s Internet connection.

That doesn’t mean that all of Tonga is back online, though. The undersea cables connecting neighboring islands to Tongatapu were also damaged and have yet to be repaired. Tonga Cable CEO James Panuve estimated it could be six to nine months before they’re all back up and running, partly due to a cable shortage that is hampering repair times. “We don’t have enough cable,” he told Reuters.