# Melbourne, Australia → Ashburn, USA RTT

🇦🇺 **Melbourne, Australia (MEL)** → 🇺🇸 **Ashburn, USA (IAD)**

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

For the round from 2026-08-16T04:07:28Z, the 50 ICMP echo probes from Melbourne to Ashburn settled at an average of 203.9 ms, with a minimum of 194.63 ms and a maximum of 221.82 ms. No packets were lost, while jitter reached 6.81 ms and the standard deviation was 7.18 ms.

This path ranks ninth among the 19 outbound routes measured from Melbourne and carries a Fair latency tier. The measured variability of about 3.5% of the average is slightly above the network-wide median of 3.28%, meaning the route is steady but not the tightest in the set.

At 16,348.2 km apart, the absolute vacuum floor for this pair is 109.06 ms, while the realistic fiber floor sits at 160.09 ms. The observed average is 1.27 times the fiber floor and achieves 78.5% fiber efficiency, so the extra delay beyond physics is modest for a route of this length.

## Latency Summary

| Metric               | Value                                                        |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| RTT                  | **203.9 ms**                                                 |
| Jitter               | **6.81 ms**                                                  |
| Packet Loss          | **0%**                                                       |
| Standard Fiber Floor | **160.09 ms**                                                |
| Fiber Efficiency     | **78.5%**                                                    |
| Latency Tier         | Fair                                                         |
| Source Region        | [Asia Pacific](/docs/network/latency/regions/asia-pacific)   |
| Destination Region   | [North America](/docs/network/latency/regions/north-america) |

## 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 [Melbourne](https://www.geonames.org/2158177) (-37.81400, 144.96332) and [Ashburn](https://www.geonames.org/4744870) (39.04372, -77.48749). It does not disclose either facility address.

| Physical Reference                            | Value           |
| --------------------------------------------- | --------------- |
| WGS-84 geodesic distance                      | **16,348.2 km** |
| Vacuum RTT floor                              | **109.06 ms**   |
| Standard fiber RTT floor ($n_g=1.4679$)       | **160.09 ms**   |
| Low-latency fiber material floor              | **159.45 ms**   |
| Engineering floor (5% path allowance)         | **168.12 ms**   |
| Research 1.33× mapped-fiber reference         | **212.92 ms**   |
| Estimated unamplified path loss               | **3433.1 dB**   |
| Transparent optical spans / inline amplifiers | **215 / 214**   |
| Published RTT inflation over fiber floor      | **1.27×**       |

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        | **194.63 ms** |
| Average RTT        | **203.9 ms**  |
| Maximum RTT        | **221.82 ms** |
| Standard deviation | **7.18 ms**   |
| Stdev / average    | **3.5%**      |

## Route Context

* Departure PoP: [Melbourne (MEL)](/docs/network/latency/mel-melbourne)
* Destination PoP: [Ashburn (IAD)](/docs/network/latency/iad-ashburn)
* Region overview: [Asia Pacific](/docs/network/latency/regions/asia-pacific) → [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**

* [Ashburn to Melbourne latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/iad-mel-rtt) — 203.9 ms

**Fastest routes departing Melbourne (MEL)**

* [Melbourne to Sydney latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mel-syd-rtt) — 9.8 ms
* [Melbourne to Singapore latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mel-sin-rtt) — 88.4 ms
* [Melbourne to Tokyo latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mel-tyo-rtt) — 112 ms
* [Melbourne to Hong Kong latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mel-hkg-rtt) — 138.5 ms
* [Melbourne to Taipei latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mel-tpe-rtt) — 143.2 ms

**Fastest routes arriving at Ashburn (IAD)**

* [New York to Ashburn latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/nyc-iad-rtt) — 6 ms
* [Miami to Ashburn latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mia-iad-rtt) — 27.3 ms
* [Los Angeles to Ashburn latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-iad-rtt) — 60.4 ms
* [Seattle to Ashburn latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/sea-iad-rtt) — 61.5 ms
* [London to Ashburn latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lon-iad-rtt) — 71 ms

**Same corridor (Asia Pacific → North America)**

* [Tokyo to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tyo-sea-rtt) — 84.8 ms
* [Tokyo to Los Angeles latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tyo-lax-rtt) — 101.2 ms
* [Taipei to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tpe-sea-rtt) — 115.8 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/mel-iad.pings.{csv,json,yaml}`. When citing, include the route, the measurement round timestamp, and the dataset version — for example: "Hats Network latency dataset, Melbourne → Ashburn 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/mel-iad-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.