Latency is defined as which of the following?

• A. The maximum bandwidth available on a network.
• B. The speed of data transfer within a local network.
• C. The perceptible delay between transmission and receipt of data across a connection, typically due to high network activity or a slow connection.
• D. The total data stored on a server.

Answer: (C)

Latency is the delay you experience between sending data and receiving it. It’s a time-based measure, not about how much data can be sent or how fast the link can carry data. Latency includes factors like the distance the signal travels, network congestion, and processing or queuing delays at devices along the path. When activity is high or connections are slow, these delays add up and you notice the lag in responses, such as in loading pages or in real-time communication. This is why the description focusing on a perceptible delay across a connection is the correct one. The other options describe bandwidth (capacity) or data rate, or store data, which aren’t about the time delay that latency measures.