# London, UK → Melbourne, Australia RTT

🇬🇧 **London, UK (LON)** → 🇦🇺 **Melbourne, Australia (MEL)**

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

During the 2026-08-16T04:07:28Z round, 50 ICMP echo requests from London to Melbourne produced an average RTT of 249.6 ms, with a minimum of 242.04 ms and a maximum of 269.23 ms. Packet loss was zero.

With a great-circle separation of 16,898.4 km, a theoretical fiber floor near 165.5 ms means the observed average is 1.51 times that bound. The route ranks 18th among the 19 London-origin departures in this round.

The latency profile is consistent: the 5.89 ms standard deviation is about 2.4% of the average, and jitter is 4.83 ms, both below the 3.3% typical for the round's London departures. London-to-Melbourne therefore shows a high but predictable round-trip time rather than one that fluctuates widely.

## Latency Summary

| Metric               | Value                                                      |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| RTT                  | **249.6 ms**                                               |
| Jitter               | **4.83 ms**                                                |
| Packet Loss          | **0%**                                                     |
| Standard Fiber Floor | **165.48 ms**                                              |
| Fiber Efficiency     | **66.3%**                                                  |
| Latency Tier         | Fair                                                       |
| Source Region        | [Europe](/docs/network/latency/regions/europe)             |
| Destination Region   | [Asia Pacific](/docs/network/latency/regions/asia-pacific) |

## Ping Measurement Series

The chart below renders the 50-sample ICMP echo measurement round for this route; an accessible table of every sample is included with the chart.

## Download This Route's Data

This route's measurement round is published as open data (CC BY 4.0) in CSV, JSON, and YAML. See [About This Measurement](#about-this-measurement) for citation guidance.

## Theoretical Fiber Latency

The public physical reference uses the GeoNames city centres for [London](https://www.geonames.org/2643743) (51.50853, -0.12574) and [Melbourne](https://www.geonames.org/2158177) (-37.81400, 144.96332). It does not disclose either facility address.

| Physical Reference                            | Value           |
| --------------------------------------------- | --------------- |
| WGS-84 geodesic distance                      | **16,898.4 km** |
| Vacuum RTT floor                              | **112.73 ms**   |
| Standard fiber RTT floor ($n_g=1.4679$)       | **165.48 ms**   |
| Low-latency fiber material floor              | **164.82 ms**   |
| Engineering floor (5% path allowance)         | **173.78 ms**   |
| Research 1.33× mapped-fiber reference         | **220.09 ms**   |
| Estimated unamplified path loss               | **3548.7 dB**   |
| Transparent optical spans / inline amplifiers | **222 / 221**   |
| Published RTT inflation over fiber floor      | **1.51×**       |

Attenuation is used to estimate the number of 80 km optical spans; it does not directly slow light. See the full [theoretical fiber latency, GeoNames, attenuation, and amplifier methodology](/docs/network/latency/theoretical-fiber-latency).

## Stability & Trend

The current measurement round (2026-08-16T04:07:28Z) collected 50 ICMP echo samples on this route. Distribution statistics from that round:

| Round Statistic    | Value         |
| ------------------ | ------------- |
| Minimum RTT        | **242.04 ms** |
| Average RTT        | **249.6 ms**  |
| Maximum RTT        | **269.23 ms** |
| Standard deviation | **5.89 ms**   |
| Stdev / average    | **2.4%**      |

## Route Context

* Departure PoP: [London (LON)](/docs/network/latency/lon-london)
* Destination PoP: [Melbourne (MEL)](/docs/network/latency/mel-melbourne)
* Region overview: [Europe](/docs/network/latency/regions/europe) → [Asia Pacific](/docs/network/latency/regions/asia-pacific)
* Corridor overview: [Europe to Asia Pacific](/docs/network/latency/regions/europe-to-asia-pacific)
* 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**

* [Melbourne to London latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mel-lon-rtt) — 252 ms

**Fastest routes departing London (LON)**

* [London to Amsterdam latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lon-ams-rtt) — 5.2 ms
* [London to Paris latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lon-par-rtt) — 6.4 ms
* [London to Frankfurt latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lon-fra-rtt) — 13.6 ms
* [London to Berlin latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lon-ber-rtt) — 16.2 ms
* [London to Marseille latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lon-mrs-rtt) — 17.9 ms

**Fastest routes arriving at Melbourne (MEL)**

* [Sydney to Melbourne latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/syd-mel-rtt) — 9.8 ms
* [Singapore to Melbourne latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/sin-mel-rtt) — 88.6 ms
* [Tokyo to Melbourne latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tyo-mel-rtt) — 113.9 ms
* [Hong Kong to Melbourne latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/hkg-mel-rtt) — 138.4 ms
* [Taipei to Melbourne latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tpe-mel-rtt) — 142 ms

**Same corridor (Europe → Asia Pacific)**

* [Moscow to Hong Kong latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mow-hkg-rtt) — 118.6 ms
* [Moscow to Taipei latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mow-tpe-rtt) — 132.1 ms
* [Marseille to Singapore latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mrs-sin-rtt) — 139.6 ms

## About This Measurement

Published RTT reflects best-case backbone path behavior measured with ICMP echo probes between PoPs. End-user latency also depends on local access networks, congestion, routing policy, and traffic engineering. None of these values is an SLA.

The measurement round behind this page is published as open data under **CC BY 4.0** in the [Hats Network latency dataset](/opendata/latency/). Per-pair files are available at `/opendata/latency/latest/pairs/lon-mel.pings.{csv,json,yaml}`. When citing, include the route, the measurement round timestamp, and the dataset version — for example: "Hats Network latency dataset, London → Melbourne round 2026-08-16T04:07:28Z, CC BY 4.0".

***

*Data auto-generated on August 16, 2026. Explore 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/lon-mel-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.