Latency

Latency refers to the time it takes for an Internet packet to go from one location to another location (one way latency) or from one location to another location and back again (round trip latency). The higher the latency is between your computer and the network you're trying to access the more delay you will have between commands being issued on your computer, executed on the target network, and then transmitted back to your computer. On Usenet, latency can cause slow newsgroup header and article retrieval, or even slow binary downloads. Latency can be caused by a number of factors, such as bandwidth capacity, distance or a large number of hops between you and the target Usenet system. Giganews provides a reverse traceroute utility to help users determine their latency to our service as well as identify and resolve issues related to the speed of our newsgroups.

Giganews also utilizes a multi-homed network with geographically distributed clusters to help ensure that our members will have the fastest and most direct path possible to our servers. This strategy helps to keep latency to a minimum for most members."

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