How does latency work

The most you could possibly get down this pipe is , bit per second bps - otherwise expressed as half a megabit per second. Notice that barring other issues that may slow things down the only thing driving this is latency. Clearly, if you have latency-sensitive applications then you need to be mindful of the latency of your network. Look out for situations where there might be unexpectedly excessive latency that will impact throughput.

For example, international circuits. Another interesting case is with 4G Cellular WAN , where one uses the 4G network to create a reliable, high speed connection to your corporate network, or to the internet. This involves the use of multiple SIMs that are often bonded together into a single, highly reliable connection. In this case, the latency of the bonded connection tends towards the greatest latency of all the individual connections. If you consider the difference between 3G and 4G in the list above, you'll see that including 3G connections can have a big impact on the overall latency.

Remember, though, that latency is not the only cause of poor application performance. To get to the bottom of such problems, you often need an Application Performance Audit , or perhaps to set up Critical Path Monitoring on your IT estate.

Generally, you'll track latency and other performance-impacting indicators using a Network and Application monitoring toolset. See this post for more on building the best managed network provider monitoring. Have a look at this calculator. RH13 6HS. This website uses cookies and by using the site you are consenting to this. What is network latency and how do you use a latency calculator to calculate throughput?

We're often asked about network latency. What is it? What are the typical values? What causes it? Although latency, bandwidth, and throughput all work together hand-in-hand, they do have different meanings. It's easier to visualize how each term works when referencing it to a pipe:. If the latency in a pipe is low and the bandwidth is also low, that means that the throughput will be inherently low.

However, if the latency is low and the bandwidth is high that will allow for greater throughput and a more efficient connection. Ultimately, latency creates bottlenecks within the network thus reducing the amount of data which can be transferred over a period of time. The question of what is latency has been answered, now where does latency come from? There are 4 main causes that can affect network latency times.

These include the following:. Latency can be reduced using a few different techniques as described below. Reducing the amount of server latency will help load your web resources faster, thus improving the overall page load time for your visitors. Latency occurs in many various environments including audio, networks, operations, etc. The following describes two additional scenarios where latency is also prevalent.

Latency in the case of data transfer through fibre optic cables can't be fully explained without first discussing the speed of light and how it relates to latency. Light travels slower in a cable which means the latency of light traveling in a fibre optic cable is around 4.

Based on how far a packet must travel, the amount of latency can quickly add up. Organizations employ a range of network analysis and latency testing tools to reduce latency and manage bandwidth in their networks. SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor helps you monitor all your network devices, physical and virtual servers, and applications using a single interface.

SolarWinds proprietary NetPath feature enables visual analysis of a network with intelligent network maps. With these maps, you can track the flow of traffic between different nodes in your network. It also offers deep packet inspection. The feature helps you monitor response times and latency in a network over a Quality of Experience QoS dashboard. You can also use the network packet analyzer, which supports plus applications.

Intelligent alerts and notifications along with a user-friendly dashboard, are some other major highlights of Network Performance Monitor. You can learn more about the product or sign up for a free trial for 30 days here.

What Is Network Latency? Poorly Optimized Backend Database Over-utilized databases can slow down your website severely.

Low Memory Space Low disk space is another reason system performance can decrease. Selection of Transmission Mediums Companies must carefully select the transmission media as it directly affects the speed of a signal. Multiple Routers Routers take time to process the information in the header of a packet.

How to Measure Latency? How to Resolve Latency Issues? We use cookies on our website to make your online experience easier and better.