Network speed matters for every business, whether you're leading video calls, connecting to cloud-based apps, or running global operations. One critical factor that influences your network’s performance is latency. But what is latency, why does it matter for your network, and how can you improve it? We answer these questions and break down what you need to know below.
What Is Latency? Definition & Meaning
Latency measures how long it takes for data to travel from its source to its destination and back again. Think of it like a digital round trip – when you send an instant message or click a link, latency determines how quickly that action completes. This delay, measured in milliseconds (ms), affects everything from website loading times to video call quality.
Latency is often confused with bandwidth, but these are very distinct terms. Bandwidth measures the amount of data your network can transmit at one time, while latency measures the delay in that transmission. Even a high-bandwidth network might still perform poorly if it has high latency.
4 Types Of Latency That Impact Performance
While latency is often discussed as a single metric, it’s actually made up of several components that can impact performance in different ways. Understanding these types of latency helps pinpoint where delays may be occurring in your network.
Propagation Latency
This refers to the time it takes for data to physically travel from source to destination across the medium, whether that’s fiber optic, copper, or wireless. The longer the physical distance, the higher the propagation delay.
Transmission Latency
Also known as serialization delay, this measures how long it takes to push all bits of a packet onto the wire. It’s influenced by the packet size and the bandwidth of the connection.
Processing Latency
Each network device (like routers and switches) takes time to inspect and forward data packets. This delay is known as processing latency and can add up quickly if hardware is underpowered or misconfigured.
Queueing Latency
When networks are congested, packets wait in queues before being transmitted. This queueing delay can vary greatly based on network load and priority settings, affecting consistency in data delivery.
How Latency Affects Network Performance
Latency affects network performance by increasing response times, reducing data throughput, and degrading the overall user experience. High latency results in delays, buffering, and poor performance in real-time applications like VoIP, video conferencing, and online gaming.
Key Latency Issues On Network Performance
- Slower Response Time: Applications take longer to react, frustrating users, especially in video calls or online gaming.
- Reduced Throughput: Data transfers become less efficient, affecting performance in data-heavy environments.
- More Buffering: Streaming video or audio is interrupted, leading to lower quality and user dissatisfaction.
- Impaired Cloud Access: Access to cloud-hosted apps and files slows down, affecting productivity.
- Decreased Efficiency: Networks handle less traffic smoothly, limiting scalability.
- Poor User Experience: Lag and delay diminish satisfaction and may cause users to abandon tasks or services.
What Causes Latency? 5 Major Factors
Several factors can contribute to your network’s latency, including:
Distance
The physical distance between the sender and receiver is one of the most basic causes of latency. The farther the data has to travel, especially across continents or through satellite-based systems, the longer the round trip takes. Even though data moves at the speed of light, long distances still add milliseconds of delay, which can compound in global operations or remote locations.
Network Congestion
When too many devices or applications are competing for bandwidth, it leads to network congestion. Just like rush hour traffic slows cars down, high volumes of data traffic slow your network response times. Congestion is especially common during peak usage hours or in networks lacking proper load balancing or bandwidth allocation strategies.
Hardware Limitations
Old or underpowered network hardware can become a bottleneck. Routers, switches, or firewalls that can’t handle modern data loads may struggle to process and forward traffic efficiently. These hardware limitations increase latency by introducing delays at each hop the data takes. Keeping network equipment updated is essential to avoid such slowdowns.
Packet Loss
When data packets fail to reach their destination due to interference, congestion, or network errors, they must be resent. This retransmission introduces delays and disrupts the flow of data, increasing overall latency. Packet loss can be particularly damaging for real-time applications like VoIP and video calls, where even small disruptions are noticeable.
Routing Delays
Inefficient or misconfigured routing can force data to travel along longer, non-optimal paths to reach its destination. These routing delays may be due to outdated protocols, mismanaged route tables, or even ISP-level issues. Optimizing routes and leveraging solutions like SD-WAN can significantly reduce latency caused by poor path selection.
These latency issues often stack up, creating bigger problems for your network performance. Luckily, most latency problems have clear solutions. Understanding which factors affect your network can help you implement the right fixes.
How To Measure Latency Yourself
Measuring latency accurately is the first step to diagnosing performance issues and improving your network. There are several tools and methods businesses can use to get visibility into latency levels:
Ping Tests
Ping is one of the most common tools to measure round-trip latency. It sends a small data packet to a server and calculates how long it takes to return.
Traceroute
Traceroute maps out the path your data takes across the network, showing where latency spikes may occur at different hops along the way.
Speed Tests
Online speed tests often include latency (sometimes labeled as “ping”) alongside download and upload speeds. These can give a quick overview of current performance.
Network Monitoring Tools
For a more in-depth look, IT teams often use monitoring software like Netdata, Nagios, or PRTG to track latency trends over time, detect anomalies, and alert teams before issues escalate.
Knowing your latency baseline allows you to take the right steps to reduce delays and optimize performance.
Why Is Latency Important?
Latency impacts more than just how fast a website loads or how smooth a video call is. It directly affects your business operations and customer experiences, particularly in industries where real-time communication and data transmission are critical.
For businesses, high latency can mean slower workflows, decreased productivity, and frustrated customers. Even as little as 300 milliseconds of latency can make voice and video calls choppy and incoherent.1
How Does Lower Latency Benefit The Users Connected To A Network?
A network with low latency ensures faster data transfer, which is crucial for businesses aiming to boost productivity and for applications that require high performance. Whether it's real-time analytics, financial transactions, VoIP calls, or online gaming, minimizing delays helps maintain seamless operations and enhances user experience.
High latency, on the other hand, can negatively impact application performance. In business environments, slow data transmission can lead to inefficiencies, reduced employee productivity, and frustrated customers. For applications requiring real-time interaction, such as video conferencing or cloud-based collaboration tools, high latency can cause delays, buffering, and even dropped connections.
In more severe cases, excessive latency can contribute to system failures, disrupting critical operations and leading to financial losses. Organizations that rely on cloud computing, remote access, or IoT devices must prioritize low-latency network solutions to ensure optimal performance and reliability.
By optimizing network infrastructure and reducing latency, businesses can achieve better efficiency, improved communication, and a superior digital experience for users and customers alike.
How To Improve Latency? 5 Key Tips
Improving latency typically involves optimizing network infrastructure, software, and operational strategies. Here are five ways to reduce latency in your network:
1. Upgrade Your Network Infrastructure
Investing in modern hardware, such as high-speed routers and switches, can provide immediate latency reductions. Fiber optic connections, in particular, offer faster and more reliable data transmission than older technologies like DSL or copper lines.
These upgrades not only reduce latency but also increase overall network reliability while preparing your infrastructure for future growth. Consider establishing redundant connections and implementing network monitoring tools to maintain optimal performance over time.
2. Implement Quality of Service (QoS) Settings
QoS settings give you precise control over how your network handles different types of data traffic. For example, you could prioritize VoIP or video conferencing data over your less time-sensitive traffic to make sure these applications have the bandwidth they need to operate smoothly.
3. Use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)
An estimated 72% of web traffic passes through CDNs,2 which cache copies of your content on servers closer to end users to reduce the distance data has to travel – a must for enterprises with a global presence or high volumes of web traffic.
Adding a CDN noticeably speeds up users' access to websites, applications, and other online services. CDNs' distributed nature also provides built-in redundancy and protection against certain types of network attacks, strengthening your overall security posture.
4. Optimize Routing & Paths
Using optimized routing protocols and network paths can minimize the distance your data travels, reducing latency. Solutions like SD-WAN help with this by providing intelligent routing capabilities that automatically select the fastest available paths for your data.
5. Minimize Network Congestion
Load balancing helps prevent congestion by distributing traffic across multiple servers or network paths. Combining this with regular monitoring and analysis can help your IT teams identify potential bottlenecks before they impact performance. Many organizations also benefit from scheduling bandwidth-intensive tasks during off-peak hours to maintain consistent network performance throughout the day.
What Industries Are Most Impacted By Higher Latency?
Every business needs good network performance, but some industries face more challenges and requirements when it comes to latency. Industries where latency has the most significant impact include:
Healthcare
Healthcare providers increasingly depend on low-latency networks to deliver critical care. For example, telemedicine and remote diagnostics need low latency for real-time interactions and accurate data sharing, and emergency response systems demand immediate communication capabilities and instantly accessible electronic health records.
E-Commerce
High latency can slow website load times, resulting in frustrated customers and lower sales. Case in point: 40% of shoppers say they’ll abandon a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load.3 Latency also affects critical e-commerce operations, such as inventory management systems and payment processing applications, both of which need real-time updates to run effectively.
Finance
Financial institutions must be able to process transactions and respond to market changes in microseconds. Turning a profit or losing money often comes down to network latency, making it a central concern for the entire industry.
Education
Educational institutions rely on low-latency networks to create engaging virtual learning environments. As more schools embrace distance learning, maintaining optimal network performance is important for ensuring educational success for students of all ages.
Optimize Your Network Latency With Tailwind
Reducing latency takes more than just upgrading your hardware or tweaking settings. You'll need to take a strategic approach that considers your network's unique requirements – but the payoff is worth the effort.
At TailWind, we help businesses minimize latency and maximize network performance across every location. From structured cabling services designed to optimize your network infrastructure to 24/7 support through our NOCaaS solutions, our experts are here to help your organization operate efficiently and stay connected.
Ready to take control of latency issues? Contact us today to get started.
Network Latency: Frequently Asked Questions
What Is A Good Latency Speed?
For most business applications, latency under 50 milliseconds (ms) is ideal. Real-time services like VoIP and video conferencing work best under 20ms. Anything above 100ms may start to affect performance noticeably.
What’s The Difference Between Latency And Ping?
Ping is a tool used to measure latency. While latency refers to the actual time it takes for data to travel, a ping test sends a signal and calculates how long it takes to receive a response, essentially measuring round-trip latency.
Can High Bandwidth Reduce Latency?
Not directly. Bandwidth is the amount of data your network can handle, while latency is the delay in transmitting that data. A high-bandwidth connection can still experience high latency if other issues, like congestion or routing delays, are present.
Does Latency Affect Internet Speed?
Latency doesn’t reduce your actual download or upload speeds, but it can make your internet feel slower, especially for tasks that rely on quick responses, such as loading webpages or joining video calls.
Sources:
