d/l speed vs ping speed question

[LethalChicken]

Ok, I have a quick question ...

How come if I get an average ping (500packets 0% loss) to a host of 330ms and to another (500 packets 13% loss) I get 450ms ... the d/l speed and page loading speed is basically the same ??

Shouldn't the one with less ping and less erros be quicker ?

Txs


We are Telkom - Resistance is Futile - You will be Assimilated

 

[mbs]

In theory, yes, but in practical terms, not necessarily. Very simplistically put, a 'ping' is just a low-level packet echo request, which is responded to at low level. Downloads and web pages are served up using protocol definitions of varying complexity, and include things like header and packet encapsulation checks, port verification and redundancy algorithms, and so on, all of which impact on and determine the final 'connectivity quickness', not to mention the port shaping of Telkrap, the efficiencies of your service provider, etc. See it very simply as a 'higher level' connectivity service, with all sorts of management functionality that a ping doesn't have...

 

[mithrandi]

13% loss isn't terribly high, and neither is a 120ms difference. For something like FPS gaming, you'll notice, because every single action you perform is delayed by an additional 120ms. But for downloading (including web browsing), all it means is that it takes 120ms longer to *start* transferring data. Seeing as it'll probably take a second or two to complete the transfer, 120ms is a pretty unnoticeable difference.

In practice, latency and throughput have very little correlation, except where high latency is indicative of a saturated link.

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