Define latency and jitter in network performance.

• A. Latency is the time for a packet to traverse a path; jitter is the variation in latency over time.
• B. Latency is the maximum delay allowed for a connection; jitter is packet loss rate.
• C. Latency describes bandwidth; jitter describes error rate.
• D. Latency and jitter are unrelated metrics.

Answer: (D)

Latency is the time a packet takes to traverse from sender to receiver, while jitter is the variation in that transit time from packet to packet. They’re linked because jitter measures how much the delay changes over time; if delays stay steady, jitter is low, and if they bounce around due to congestion or routing changes, jitter is high. For real-time applications like voice or video, both matter: low average latency with low jitter provides smooth, predictable delivery, whereas high jitter can cause timing problems even if the average latency isn’t terrible. The other options mix up concepts—for example, latency isn’t the maximum delay allowed, and jitter isn’t the packet loss rate; they aren’t about bandwidth or error rate either.