Network Latency Components

Propagation delay

Amount of time required for a message to travel from the sender to receiver, which is a function of distance over speed with which the signal propagates.

Tansmission delay

Amount of time required to push all the packet’s bits into the link, which is a function of the packet’s length and data rate of the link.

Processing delay

Amount of time required to process the packet header, check for bit-level errors, and determine the packet’s destination.

Queuing delay

Amount of time the packet is waiting in the queue until it can be processed.