# Melbourne, Australia → Seattle, USA RTT

🇦🇺 **Melbourne, Australia (MEL)** → 🇺🇸 **Seattle, USA (SEA)**

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

The 2026-08-16T04:07:28Z round recorded ICMP echo RTT from Melbourne, Australia to Seattle, USA with 50 samples. The average was 172.1 ms, the minimum 169 ms, and the maximum 187.7 ms; standard deviation was 3.51 ms, jitter was 2.55 ms, and packet loss was 0 percent.

Given the geodesic distance of 13,166 km, the vacuum floor is 87.83 ms and the fiber floor is 128.93 ms. The observed average is 1.33 times the fiber floor, which puts fiber efficiency at 74.9 percent, a reasonable outcome for a route landing at Seattle's major trans-Pacific interconnection hub.

This route ranks 7th among 19 outbound routes in the same round, placing it in the stronger half of the set. Its standard deviation is about 2.0 percent of the average RTT, clearly below the median variability of 3.28 percent across the route set. The combination of low jitter, zero packet loss, and a tight RTT distribution makes this a stable and efficient crossing.

## Latency Summary

| Metric               | Value                                                        |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| RTT                  | **172.1 ms**                                                 |
| Jitter               | **2.55 ms**                                                  |
| Packet Loss          | **0%**                                                       |
| Standard Fiber Floor | **128.93 ms**                                                |
| Fiber Efficiency     | **74.9%**                                                    |
| 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 [Seattle](https://www.geonames.org/5809844) (47.60621, -122.33207). It does not disclose either facility address.

| Physical Reference                            | Value         |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------------- |
| WGS-84 geodesic distance                      | **13,166 km** |
| Vacuum RTT floor                              | **87.83 ms**  |
| Standard fiber RTT floor ($n_g=1.4679$)       | **128.93 ms** |
| Low-latency fiber material floor              | **128.41 ms** |
| Engineering floor (5% path allowance)         | **135.4 ms**  |
| Research 1.33× mapped-fiber reference         | **171.48 ms** |
| Estimated unamplified path loss               | **2764.9 dB** |
| Transparent optical spans / inline amplifiers | **173 / 172** |
| Published RTT inflation over fiber floor      | **1.33×**     |

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        | **169 ms**   |
| Average RTT        | **172.1 ms** |
| Maximum RTT        | **187.7 ms** |
| Standard deviation | **3.51 ms**  |
| Stdev / average    | **2.0%**     |

## Route Context

* Departure PoP: [Melbourne (MEL)](/docs/network/latency/mel-melbourne)
* Destination PoP: [Seattle (SEA)](/docs/network/latency/sea-seattle)
* 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**

* [Seattle to Melbourne latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/sea-mel-rtt) — 170.1 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 Seattle (SEA)**

* [Los Angeles to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-sea-rtt) — 26.9 ms
* [New York to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/nyc-sea-rtt) — 58.7 ms
* [Ashburn to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/iad-sea-rtt) — 62.3 ms
* [Miami to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mia-sea-rtt) — 81.9 ms
* [Tokyo to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tyo-sea-rtt) — 84.8 ms

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

* [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
* [Hong Kong to Seattle latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/hkg-sea-rtt) — 131.6 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-sea.pings.{csv,json,yaml}`. When citing, include the route, the measurement round timestamp, and the dataset version — for example: "Hats Network latency dataset, Melbourne → Seattle 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-sea-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.