# Melbourne, Australia → Sydney, Australia RTT

🇦🇺 **Melbourne, Australia (MEL)** → 🇦🇺 **Sydney, Australia (SYD)**

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

During the 2026-08-16T04:07:28Z ICMP echo round, 50 probes at 100 ms intervals between Melbourne and Sydney, Australia returned an average RTT of 9.8 ms, with a minimum of 9.36 ms and a maximum of 11.08 ms. Packet loss was zero and jitter was just 0.31 ms, placing the route in the Ultra-Low latency tier.

With a geodesic distance of 713.8 km, the fibre floor is 6.99 ms, so the measured average is 1.4 times that ideal and represents 71.3% fibre efficiency. The absolute spread is tiny: the standard deviation is only 0.40 ms, and the entire sample range spans less than 2 ms.

Within the 19 outbound routes measured from Melbourne, this domestic path is ranked first. Its relative RTT variability of about 4.08% is higher than the 3.28% median for the set, but the absolute numbers are so small that the route remains effectively consistent; a 0.40 ms standard deviation and zero packet loss make it a reliable domestic latency reference.

## Latency Summary

| Metric               | Value                                                      |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| RTT                  | **9.8 ms**                                                 |
| Jitter               | **0.31 ms**                                                |
| Packet Loss          | **0%**                                                     |
| Standard Fiber Floor | **6.99 ms**                                                |
| Fiber Efficiency     | **71.3%**                                                  |
| Latency Tier         | Ultra-Low                                                  |
| Source Region        | [Asia Pacific](/docs/network/latency/regions/asia-pacific) |
| 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 [Melbourne](https://www.geonames.org/2158177) (-37.81400, 144.96332) and [Sydney](https://www.geonames.org/2147714) (-33.86785, 151.20732). It does not disclose either facility address.

| Physical Reference                            | Value        |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------------ |
| WGS-84 geodesic distance                      | **713.8 km** |
| Vacuum RTT floor                              | **4.76 ms**  |
| Standard fiber RTT floor ($n_g=1.4679$)       | **6.99 ms**  |
| Low-latency fiber material floor              | **6.96 ms**  |
| Engineering floor (5% path allowance)         | **7.34 ms**  |
| Research 1.33× mapped-fiber reference         | **9.3 ms**   |
| Estimated unamplified path loss               | **149.9 dB** |
| Transparent optical spans / inline amplifiers | **10 / 9**   |
| Published RTT inflation over fiber floor      | **1.4×**     |

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        | **9.36 ms**  |
| Average RTT        | **9.8 ms**   |
| Maximum RTT        | **11.08 ms** |
| Standard deviation | **0.4 ms**   |
| Stdev / average    | **4.1%**     |

## Route Context

* Departure PoP: [Melbourne (MEL)](/docs/network/latency/mel-melbourne)
* Destination PoP: [Sydney (SYD)](/docs/network/latency/syd-sydney)
* Region overview: [Asia Pacific](/docs/network/latency/regions/asia-pacific) → [Asia Pacific](/docs/network/latency/regions/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**

* [Sydney to Melbourne latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/syd-mel-rtt) — 9.8 ms

**Fastest routes departing Melbourne (MEL)**

* [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
* [Melbourne to Los Angeles latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/mel-lax-rtt) — 148.4 ms

**Fastest routes arriving at Sydney (SYD)**

* [Singapore to Sydney latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/sin-syd-rtt) — 94.5 ms
* [Tokyo to Sydney latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tyo-syd-rtt) — 101.9 ms
* [Taipei to Sydney latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tpe-syd-rtt) — 133.2 ms
* [Hong Kong to Sydney latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/hkg-syd-rtt) — 137.2 ms
* [Los Angeles to Sydney latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/lax-syd-rtt) — 137.6 ms

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

* [Hong Kong to Taipei latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/hkg-tpe-rtt) — 14.7 ms
* [Taipei to Hong Kong latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/tpe-hkg-rtt) — 15.5 ms
* [Singapore to Hong Kong latency and RTT](/docs/network/latency/pairs/sin-hkg-rtt) — 30.8 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-syd.pings.{csv,json,yaml}`. When citing, include the route, the measurement round timestamp, and the dataset version — for example: "Hats Network latency dataset, Melbourne → Sydney 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-syd-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.