On Apr 11, 2011, at 2:13 PM, Andrew McNabb wrote: > Certainly there is at least _some_ correlation between distance and > packet latency. After all, there is no way [that I am aware of] that a > packet traveling 1000 miles could arrive faster than the time it takes light > to > travel 1000 miles.
While what you say is likely true, I was proposing that there is no *appreciable* correlation between distance and packet latency, when there are multiple routers involved, because the router induced latency is so much greater than the latency induced by wire propagation delay. I based this assertion on the fact that a router will add a *lot* more latency than a run of copper wire, even a very long run of switched copper wire[1]. Although I'm convincing myself as I write this now that a slow, switched network could add a lot of latency on its own too... Given the fact that this was the mid-90s, it seems a bit more plausible. Back then, big nodes like universities had a lot fewer hops between them. Ah, those were the good old days, before the spammers. And MySpace. If only I weren't so dumb back then -- I would have recorded latency measurements between my publicly routable IP address in my *dorm room* and other universities. --Dave [1] I'm waving my hands and not offering numbers. Suck it up. -------------------- BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ The opinions expressed in this message are the responsibility of their author. They are not endorsed by BYU, the BYU CS Department or BYU-UUG. ___________________________________________________________________ List Info (unsubscribe here): http://uug.byu.edu/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
