# Latency and response time

Proxy latency is the additional time a request spends because it goes through the gateway and out of an exit before reaching the destination: the network distance to the gateway, the hop to the exit, and the exit's own connection quality. Datacenter and ISP exits on wired uplinks add tens of milliseconds; residential exits add a few hundred because of household lines; mobile exits vary with the cell. Latency matters for interactive flows and matters little for bulk collection.


## Where the time goes

- Client to gateway: choose the gateway region nearest your servers when the provider offers several.
- Gateway to exit: the exit's uplink, wired or wireless.
- Exit to destination: geographic distance; a Tokyo exit fetching a European site pays the ocean twice.


## Reducing it

- Keep connections alive when the job allows (same exit), instead of a new TLS handshake per request.
- Place exits near the destination, not near you.
- Use ISP or datacenter addresses for latency-sensitive work that does not need a residential score.


## How it works at ProxShift

ProxShift datacenter and ISP addresses sit on wired uplinks in facilities on major exchanges; residential and mobile exits add the latency of a household or cellular line. The comparison page rates all four on speed.

Source: https://proxshift.com/glossary/latency