# Johannesburg, South Africa → Los Angeles, USA RTT

🇿🇦 **Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB)** → 🇺🇸 **Los Angeles, USA (LAX)**

Measurement round: `2026-08-16T04:07:28Z`.

Johannesburg to Los Angeles averaged 285.5 ms across 50 replies. The observed range was 274.6 to 308.95 ms; these figures describe one probe round, not a long-term service target.

Standard deviation was 8.74 ms, or 3.1% of the average. This describes variation within the sample without identifying its cause.

## Latency Summary

| Metric               | Value                                                        |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| RTT                  | **285.5 ms**                                                 |
| Jitter               | **7.72 ms**                                                  |
| Packet Loss          | **0%**                                                       |
| Standard Fiber Floor | **163.35 ms**                                                |
| Fiber Efficiency     | **57.2%**                                                    |
| Latency Tier         | High                                                         |
| Source Region        | [Africa](/docs/network/latency/regions/africa)               |
| Destination Region   | [North America](/docs/network/latency/regions/north-america) |

## Ping Measurement Series

50 ICMP echo probes were recorded in this round. Individual replies and their distribution are shown below.

## Download This Route's Data

Download the probe round as CSV, JSON or YAML under CC BY 4.0. [Citation details](#about-this-measurement) include the route and round timestamp.

## Theoretical Fiber Latency

The propagation model uses public city-centre coordinates from GeoNames: [Johannesburg](https://www.geonames.org/993800) (-26.20227, 28.04363) and [Los Angeles](https://www.geonames.org/5368361) (34.05223, -118.24368). These are not facility coordinates or a surveyed cable path.

| Physical Reference                            | Value           |
| --------------------------------------------- | --------------- |
| WGS-84 geodesic distance                      | **16,680.3 km** |
| Vacuum RTT floor                              | **111.28 ms**   |
| Standard fiber RTT floor ($n_g=1.4679$)       | **163.35 ms**   |
| Low-latency fiber material floor              | **162.69 ms**   |
| Engineering floor (5% path allowance)         | **171.54 ms**   |
| Research 1.33× mapped-fiber reference         | **217.25 ms**   |
| Estimated unamplified path loss               | **3502.9 dB**   |
| Transparent optical spans / inline amplifiers | **219 / 218**   |
| Published RTT inflation over fiber floor      | **1.75×**       |

The span count assumes 80 km optical spans. Attenuation is a power-loss term, not a propagation delay. See the [model assumptions and equations](/docs/network/latency/theoretical-fiber-latency).

## Stability & Trend

Statistics from the same 50 replies. They describe this probe round, not continuous historical monitoring.

| Round Statistic    | Value         |
| ------------------ | ------------- |
| Minimum RTT        | **274.6 ms**  |
| Average RTT        | **285.5 ms**  |
| Maximum RTT        | **308.95 ms** |
| Standard deviation | **8.74 ms**   |
| Stdev / average    | **3.1%**      |

## Route Context

* Departure PoP: [Johannesburg (JNB)](/docs/network/latency/jnb-johannesburg)
* Destination PoP: [Los Angeles (LAX)](/docs/network/latency/lax-los-angeles)
* Region overview: [Africa](/docs/network/latency/regions/africa) → [North America](/docs/network/latency/regions/north-america)
* Full global matrix: [Backbone Latency Matrix](/docs/network/latency)
* Physical methodology: [Theoretical Fiber Latency](/docs/network/latency/theoretical-fiber-latency)

## Related City-Pair Routes

**Reverse direction**

* [Los Angeles to Johannesburg latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-jnb-rtt): 287.2 ms

**Fastest routes departing Johannesburg (JNB)**

* [Johannesburg to London latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/jnb-lon-rtt): 158 ms
* [Johannesburg to Amsterdam latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/jnb-ams-rtt): 163.2 ms
* [Johannesburg to Paris latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/jnb-par-rtt): 164.4 ms
* [Johannesburg to Frankfurt latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/jnb-fra-rtt): 166 ms
* [Johannesburg to Marseille latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/jnb-mrs-rtt): 172 ms

**Fastest routes arriving at Los Angeles (LAX)**

* [Seattle to Los Angeles latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/sea-lax-rtt): 25.9 ms
* [Miami to Los Angeles latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mia-lax-rtt): 56.8 ms
* [New York to Los Angeles latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/nyc-lax-rtt): 58.9 ms
* [Ashburn to Los Angeles latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/iad-lax-rtt): 60.7 ms
* [Tokyo to Los Angeles latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tyo-lax-rtt): 101.2 ms

**Same corridor (Africa → North America)**

* [Johannesburg to New York latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/jnb-nyc-rtt): 221.8 ms
* [Johannesburg to Ashburn latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/jnb-iad-rtt): 229 ms
* [Johannesburg to Miami latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/jnb-mia-rtt): 259.9 ms

## About This Measurement

These ICMP measurements cover the two backbone endpoints. Access networks, routing policy and load can change an end user's result. A probe round is not an SLA.

The underlying replies are available under **CC BY 4.0** in the [Hats Network latency dataset](/opendata/latency/). Per-pair files are available at `/opendata/latency/latest/pairs/jnb-lax.pings.{csv,json,yaml}`. Cite the route, round timestamp and dataset version. Example: "Hats Network latency dataset, Johannesburg → Los Angeles round 2026-08-16T04:07:28Z, CC BY 4.0".

***

*Round published August 16, 2026. See the [full interactive latency matrix](/docs/network/latency) or browse more [city-pair routes](/docs/network/latency/pairs).*

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## License and attribution

- **Canonical source:** [View the human-readable HTML page](https://hatsnet.io/docs/network/latency/pairs/jnb-lax-rtt).
- **Original documentation:** © Hats Network Inc., licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- **Public latency data:** © Hats Network Inc., licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- **Full terms:** [Content and Data License](https://hatsnet.io/docs/legal/content-and-data-license) — includes attribution requirements, third-party material, trademarks, source code and other exclusions.