Latency vs. Bandwidth and Your Internet Experience

Figuring out how your speeds work can be confusing. We want to make it a little more simple. We are going to discuss: What is latency and bandwidth? 

What is latency?

Latency = delay. Latency is the time it takes to send information from one place to another. In terms of video games, latency is the time it takes between you pressing the jump button and you actually jumping in the game. Latency also greatly affects how streaming services load. The smaller the amount of latency, the faster the internet speeds will feel.

Latency is measured in milliseconds. DSL, cable, and cellular internet have an average of 30-50 milliseconds of latency. Satellite internet has an average of 500 milliseconds of latency. That can determine whether you're able to win your online game or if your movie is going to buffer.

What is bandwidth?

Bandwidth is the pipeline that you take your internet from. This is how much data could be pulled at one time from the internet into your home.  Many services and websites have limitations on the upload speed of their servers so even if you have a high bandwidth you may not be able to utilize all of it on every webpage or service.

Experience

Your overall internet experience is a blend of these two things.  Satellite internet, for example, usually has a very negative experience, even if bandwidth is high because of the extremely high latency.  Latency is the first primary factor in determining a positive internet experience.  A lower latency will have a more positive experience.

The next part of your experience is going to be the bandwidth.  If you have a small family or minimal simultaneous connections then a low bandwidth would be sufficient for your needs.  As you add to the number of simultaneous users/streaming devices you will need more and more bandwidth to supply enough data.  In this case, if your bandwidth is low, even if you have low latency you will experience buffering and slowdowns in your experience.

Example

Try picturing a device like a car.  A low latency connection would be like a nascar and a high latency connection like a very aged 4-cylinder sedan.  Bandwidth could be represented by the number of lanes on the highway.

If you only have one car, you won't benefit any more from a 10 lane highway over a 1 lane highway.  However, if you have 10 nascars on a 1 lane highway, none of them will perform at their optimal capabilities.