Network delay
Time required for data to traverse a network
Network delay is a design and performance characteristic of a telecommunications network. It specifies the latency for a bit of data to travel across the network from one communication endpoint to another. It is typically measured in multiples or fractions of a second. Delay may differ slightly, depending on the location of the specific pair of communicating endpoints. Engineers usually report both the maximum and average delay, and they divide the delay into several parts:
- Processing delay , time it takes a router to process the packet header
- Queuing delay , time the packet spends in routing queues
- Transmission delay , time it takes to push the packet's bits onto the link
- Propagation delay , time for a signal to propagate through the media
A certain minimum level of delay is experienced by signals due to the time it takes to transmit a packet serially through a link. This delay is extended by more variable levels of delay due to network congestion. IP network delays can range from a few milliseconds to several hundred milliseconds.
For example, the hop count between two communication endpoints (such as server and client), may affect network delay.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Network delay”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Graphical Description of Network Delay.png by David Hellmanns, Fair use
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