What is the difference between Latency, Bandwidth and Throughput?

Bandwidth, Latency and Throughput are ways to measure the performance of a network. It is important to understand each of these in details as each network is different in nature and design. This can be beneficial as you can get the right solution for your business needs.

Let us understand each one of these in detail with examples

Latency

Latency is the time it takes for a packet to get across the network, from source to destination.  Latency is measured in units of time, such as seconds.
It is dependent on the physical distance that data must travel through cords, networks and the like to reach its destination.

Example: Latency can simply be compared with the time taken to reach the destination.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is a measure of how much data at any given time a communication channel can handle, its capacity.

Example: Imagine 2 parallel roads: one with 4-lanes and one with 2-lanes. The 4-lane road can hold higher number of cars compared to the 2-lane road. The holding capacity of each is nothing but bandwidth.

Throughput

Throughput is the number of messages successfully delivered per unit time.
There are several factors that control Throughput like the available bandwidth, the available signal-to-noise ratio, and hardware limitations.

Throughput is found by adding up the number of items and dividing by the sample interval. This calculation may produce correct but misleading results because it ignores variations in processing speed within the sample interval.

Example: While reaching your destination you might face heavy traffic, pot holes, speed limits, vehicle breakdown, etc. that can cause delay in your arrival at your destination.

Hope this content above has helped you understand the difference between Latency, Bandwidth, and Throughput. If you find this article helpful, kindly vote.