Factors affecting network latency

Question

I frequently maintain a constant connection with some private servers. I need to be connected with very little latency. The servers measure response time (*ping) in milliseconds.

What factors come into play when calculating this response time? Is it simply the distance between my computer and the server? Does bandwidth fit in here somehow?

Solution 1

Your ping is the time taken for a packet to go from your PC, to the server, and back again. It can be affected by a variety of things, including;

• Bandwidth of your internet connection
• What other applications/users are using the bandwidth on your local network
• Your contention ratio
• Distance from your local exchange
• What, if any, throttling / traffic shaping your ISP is performing
• The load of the server you are connecting to

Solution 2

Bandwidth doesn't directly affect your latency, but the number of routers between you and the server you're connecting to can affect your ping times dramatically. Each router can introduce a routing delay, so generally you want a network route with the fewest number of hops (although that is not always the case, since some networks may be faster than others).

You can use traceroute (tracert on Windows), a command-line program, to check the number of hops between your computer and the server, as well as the latency to each router.

Comments

[Josh K]

As worded this question is off topic. You could reword to replace gaming with what effects network latency.

[DaveParillo]

sounds like dup of superuser.com/questions/51261/…

[quack quixote]

@Dave: that one only focuses on TTL; i think this is a more general question. it's a good related link tho.

[Enrico Tuvera Jr]

So does that mean that a server far away might not necessarily have a high ping?

[RJFalconer]

Yes, that's correct.

[rob]

@cornjuliox: Correct, a geographically distant server may not necessarily have a high ping, but this is also dependent on the network route and the number & magnitude of routing delays incurred.

[Enrico Tuvera Jr]

So how do you determine what MTU the DSL line can take? Is it something you'd call the ISP and ask about?

[Satanicpuppy]

It's almost always 1492, but it should be in your setup packet.