Network Delay

Network delay is an important design and performance characteristic of a computer network or telecommunications network. The delay of a network specifies how long it takes for a bit of data to travel across the network from one node or endpoint to another. It is typically measured in multiples or fractions of seconds. Delay may differ slightly, depending on the location of the specific pair of communicating nodes. Although users only care about the total delay of a network, engineers need to perform precise measurements. Thus, engineers usually report both the maximum and average delay, and they divide the delay into several parts:

• Processing delay - time routers take to process the packet header
• Queuing delay - time the packet spends in routing queues
• Transmission delay - time it takes to push the packet's bits onto the link
• Propagation delay - time for a signal to reach its destination

There is a certain minimum level of delay that will be experienced due to the time it takes to transmit a packet serially through a link. Onto this is added a more variable level of delay due to network congestion. IP network delays can range from just a few milliseconds to several hundred milliseconds.