Scenario
Example
Water Pipe Analogy
Imagine you have a water pipe that carries water from a tank (sender) to a bucket (receiver).
Latency → The time it takes for the first drop of water to reach the bucket once the tap is turned on.
Bandwidth → The maximum amount of water the pipe can carry per second (pipe width).
Throughput → The actual amount of water flowing through the pipe at any given time, considering real-world inefficiencies.
Ways to Change Performance:
1️. Making the Pipe Wider (Increasing Bandwidth)
More water can flow through at the same time.
This does not reduce the time taken for the first drop to arrive (latency remains the same).
2️. Using a Shorter Pipe (Reducing Latency)
Water takes less time to reach the bucket.
Bandwidth and throughput stay the same unless other factors are changed.
3️. Increasing Water Pressure (Increasing Speed)
Water reaches the bucket faster, reducing latency.
More water can also flow through at a higher rate, increasing throughput.
4️. Leaks and Blockages (Network Congestion & Packet Loss)
If there are leaks (packet loss) or blockages (network congestion), throughput is reduced even if bandwidth is high.
A wider pipe increases bandwidth but doesn’t change latency.
A shorter pipe reduces latency but doesn’t change bandwidth.
Faster water flow reduces latency and increases throughput.
Blockages and leaks reduce throughput below the available bandwidt
Web Page Load Time
Assume a web page request travels 4000 km via fiber optic cable, passing through 3 routers, with a 1 MB page size on a 100 Mbps connection.
Transmission Delay
80 ms
Propagation Delay
20 ms
Processing Delay
5 ms × 3 routers = 15 ms
Queuing Delay
10 ms
Total Latency
125 ms
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