What is latency?
When you do something like click on a web link, a request goes to the remote computer and the information is sent back to you. The time between your request and the response is the latency. On most internet connections, the signal travels no more than a couple thousand miles and latency is very small. With satellite, signals travel to and from a satellite for a round trip of nearly 100,000 miles which creates a latency of about a half second. Most users won’t notice latency. Reading email or downloading files aren’t affected by an extra half-second. However any application requiring fast response won’t run efficiently on satellite. One example is a fast-paced online game such as a first-person shooter. Business applications affected by latency include video conferencing or real-time stock trading.
latency
Latency is a word you hear thrown around the digital audio world quite a bit. A lot of people use the word latency to mean a lot of different things, and often are not clear on what it does actually mean or how it will affect their home studio workflow. You will often hear salesmen or so called experts recommending this gear over that gear because you will get better latency. The truth of the matter is latency does not matter at all for the recording needs of nearly every home recording enthusiast. Most of you literally should not care about latency at all.
