University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

A common misconception in networking is that increasing bandwidth will inherently lower latency. However, bandwidth and latency measure fundamentally different performance characteristics of a network.

Bandwidth refers to the volume of data that can be transferred over a network connection per second. Latency, on the other hand, measures delay—the time it takes for data to travel from its source to its destination. Even on a connection with high bandwidth, a slow-to-respond link will still produce perceptible lag.

Bandwidth Versus Latency

Match each networking concept with its correct definition or characteristic.

The network metric that measures delay, defined as the time required for data to travel from its source to its destination, is ___.

Order the stages of data transit across a network link from initiation to the measurement of latency:

Based on networking principles regarding bandwidth and latency, explain why increasing the connection's bandwidth did not eliminate the perceptible lag.

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