An apparatus and method for routing IP traffic in real time from at least one network user to a plurality of internet links. Embodiments include assigning different ranks to different internet links based on network monitoring. In one embodiment, a system for routing internet traffic includes an internet route optimizer to generate routing instructions for incoming data packets using financial costs of routing data packets on the internet links and the temporal delay on each of the plurality of internet links. In another embodiment, a method to generate a routing instruction to route an internet data packet on one of a plurality of internet links includes generating a routing instruction for the incoming data packet which identifies the internet link corresponding to a financially least expensive of the plurality of internet links which provides less than a predetermined temporal delay.