# Melbourne, Australia → London, UK RTT

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

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

The 2026-08-16T04:07:28Z ICMP echo round-trip time from Melbourne, Australia to London, UK averaged 252 ms over 50 probes, with a minimum of 239.89 ms and a maximum of 289.22 ms. The route's 16,898 km separation yields a theoretical vacuum floor of 112.73 ms and a straight-fiber floor of 165.48 ms, so the measured average is about 1.52 times the straight-fiber minimum.

This path is one of 19 outbound routes measured for the network and is ranked 15th in that set. The standard deviation of 10.82 ms is about 4.3% of the 252 ms average, and jitter is 8.6 ms, putting the route slightly above the network's median variability of 3.28% of average RTT. The absolute spread is still small, and the sample recorded zero packet loss.

The minimum RTT of 239.89 ms already sits 74.41 ms above the straight-fiber floor, indicating that most of the latency is a fixed consequence of the intercontinental distance and path geometry rather than a short-term problem. With a maximum-minimum range of 49.33 ms and no lost packets, these ICMP echo results describe a high-latency but relatively consistent path at the time of the round.

## Latency Summary

| Metric               | Value                                                      |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| RTT                  | **252 ms**                                                 |
| Jitter               | **8.6 ms**                                                 |
| Packet Loss          | **0%**                                                     |
| Standard Fiber Floor | **165.48 ms**                                              |
| Fiber Efficiency     | **65.7%**                                                  |
| Latency Tier         | High                                                       |
| Source Region        | [Asia Pacific](/docs/network/latency/regions/asia-pacific) |
| Destination Region   | [Europe](/docs/network/latency/regions/europe)             |

## 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 [London](https://www.geonames.org/2643743) (51.50853, -0.12574). 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      | **1.52×**       |

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        | **239.89 ms** |
| Average RTT        | **252 ms**    |
| Maximum RTT        | **289.22 ms** |
| Standard deviation | **10.82 ms**  |
| Stdev / average    | **4.3%**      |

## Route Context

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

* [London to Melbourne latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lon-mel-rtt) — 249.6 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 London (LON)**

* [Amsterdam to London latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/ams-lon-rtt) — 5.2 ms
* [Paris to London latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/par-lon-rtt) — 6.4 ms
* [Frankfurt to London latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/fra-lon-rtt) — 12.9 ms
* [Berlin to London latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/ber-lon-rtt) — 15.2 ms
* [Marseille to London latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mrs-lon-rtt) — 18.9 ms

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

* [Hong Kong to Moscow latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/hkg-mow-rtt) — 118.2 ms
* [Taipei to Moscow latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tpe-mow-rtt) — 132.7 ms
* [Singapore to Marseille latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/sin-mrs-rtt) — 140.6 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/mel-lon.pings.{csv,json,yaml}`. When citing, include the route, the measurement round timestamp, and the dataset version — for example: "Hats Network latency dataset, Melbourne → London 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-lon-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.