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Packet size versus latency
Computer Networks Lab · free online experiment, runs in your browser with no install or sign-up.
Open this experiment in the network simulator
Objective
Ping with 64-byte and with 1400-byte packets over a slow 2 Mbit/s link and compare the round-trip times.
Procedure
- Run: two ping lines, small packets then large ones.
- Raise the link rate to 100 Mbit/s: the difference nearly vanishes.
Theory
Serialisation delay = bits / rate. Over 2 Mbit/s a 64-byte packet (+38 B Ethernet overhead) takes 0.41 ms, a 1400-byte packet 5.75 ms; the RTT grows by twice the difference because the reply is as large as the request.
Network blocks used
2 × Host / PC
Open this experiment in the network simulator