As routers on a network receive packets, open headers and read destination addresses, they calculate the routing options they have to get the packet to its destination. Not all networks will have the same set of routing rules. Larger networks and those of tier one carriers that peer directly with each other will provide the shortest and most efficient routes to and from a point. Smaller networks that do not have the expensive architecture of the tier-one carriers will be required to take packets a further distance, through more router hops and across more antonymous systems thus causing more latency.
Architecture and Peering Induced Latency
