The world’s internet is controlled by a secret facility on a former World War Two radar base in Suffolk, we can reveal.
Everything from bandwidth to storage, from operations of the globe’s largest websites like Google to online banking, is overseen in a network of underground bunkers at the former RAF Bawdsey centre.
The Suffolk Gazette was given an exclusive tour of the high-security facility, including its dumping ground for long-gone internet services such as Friends Reunited and MySpace, as well as a close-up look of the radar masts that allow WiFi to work throughout the world.
First we were shown the nerve centre of the world’s internet, which features a bank of hi-tech hardware with dials showing the current broadband connection speed of networks around the world.
The system features a large metal wheel – so that if the internet becomes too slow during peak periods, bandwidth can be increased by turning the wheel in a clockwise direction. Mr Robert Jameson manages the speed service, and is pictured above next to his complex machinery.
He explained this is the most important room of the whole site, because if the power is cut, internet everywhere will be lost, sending the entire world into chaos. As such, an important lever behind the door says: “Do not pull lever,” because if it was pulled, the system would shut down.
