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Broadly, a term used to describe a delay in transmitting
data between two computers. Latency is the time taken to transfer a packed
of information from one point to another, and is often cited as one of
the reasons for the sluggish performance of internet connections.
Many
factors influence the latency of a network connection, including the nature
of the medium (cable, fibre and so on), the number of routers, the
efficiency of a modem or network card and, ultimately, the speed of light.
Although the delays introduced by each of these are measured in milliseconds,
they add up to a significant total when applied to every packet of data sent
across the network. This is one of the reason that modes of communication
which rely on sending a large number of messages back and forth, such as
videoconferencing and online gaming, are susceptible to
latency problems. |
