Latency
Short definition
Latency is the delay between sending data and its arrival at the destination.
Meaning and how it works
High end-to-end latency makes natural conversation difficult: speakers may interrupt one another because replies arrive late. One-way latency and round-trip time (RTT) are different measurements and should not be used interchangeably. Codec processing and buffering also contribute to perceived delay.
Business applications
- Business scenario:
Before launching a remote contact centre, an engineer measures network delay between agents and the hosted telephony platform.
What to check before implementation
Assess end-to-end delay rather than relying only on ping to one server. Examine latency together with jitter, packet loss and media-processing delays.