With all of these variables, latency can vary dramatically from site to site you may visit. The combined latency is then the total latency you see included on the test above. Each step in the process adds some level of latency in milliseconds. The request is then processed and returns through the same route in reverse. For example, a data request may go from your computer through a WIFI device, to a router, to the radio transmitter, to a tower, to a fiber connection, to an Internet route, and to the receiving server. In a network, every piece of equipment data passes through creates some amount of latency. The higher the latency the longer the delay between request and response. Latency is measured in milliseconds (thousandths of a second). Latency is defined as how much time it takes for data packets to get from one location to another.

Latency is another variable than can impact the responsiveness of your Internet connection. Streaming video players typically will load a buffer of data, or in other words, preload data so that the video will play more smoothly regardless of variation in connection speed. As you stream video your need for a continuous amount of high speed data connectivity goes up exponentially. An HD streaming video typically ranges between 2.5 Mbps to 4 Mbps.

A typical video on a webpage may use about 1000 kilobits per second (or 1 Mbps). Once you start streaming video your need for speed increases. These are very small buckets and your RiseВ Broadband connection fills them in fractions of a second. The size of the average email is about 100 kilobits while the average webpage without video is about 200 kilobits. If you are loading a web page (the bucket), then the faster your connection (the pressure in the hose) the faster the page will load the required data to display the page (water filling the bucket). If you think about an Internet data connection in terms of a water hose, the more you turn up the spigot the more quickly water fills a bucket.

A connection of 5 Mbps for example means the connection is passing 5000 kilobits (or 5 megabits) of data each second. Internet connection speed is defined by how much data is transmitted through an Internet connection each second.

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