Distance and Speed

[[EFS]HarryPotter]

is it true that distance from a server has an appreciable impact on the speed with which you receive a response from that server, or is it a function of the physical constraints of bandwidth, router capabilities and overall traffic

[MAGIC 8-BALL and THE ELF]

Distance matters on my home planet, it's light years away. - 8-Ball

But not through your trans-warp conduit! Its really user traffic that slows things down. - Elf

[Szech]

If you exceed the maximum length of the cables (e.g. 100m for cat5) without repeaters, then the signal quality will degrade to noticable levels. With routers, switches, and all that other nice stuff, I believe that the connection is slowed more by the amount of users, rather than the physical connection.

[DVNT1]

Depends on your definition of distance...within the same network segement and within the cabling standards...no.

If distance related to the number of hops then yes. Every hop has to take the signal, interpret it, then send it back out toward it's destination (processing overhead)

[wyvrn]

Not a big difference if you are with specs of what the network can handle. We are talking electrical signals and light in fiber optics, in which physical distance would be negligable.

The real measures of speed are server response, hops, and general internet congestion.