What you might not know is that a more obscure speed measurement, called latency, is also crucial.

Rev up your knowledge with this FAQ.

What is latency?

Latency measures the time it takes for your phone to send a message and get a response.

Shorter latency enables quick response interactions, which is why gaming is such an important example.

The apps our phones interact with are on a server somewhere, not in a cell tower.

That means it’s possible for you to use Amazon to get vastly more things.

Similarly, low latency makes a connection more adaptable.

What does low latency enable?

In practice, those applications are distant possibilities at best.

“Nobody is going to do robotic surgery.

Autonomous cars will never be controlled by 5G,” saidTechnalysis Research analyst Bob O’Donnell.

But some low latency tasks aren’t just sci-fi.

Multiplayer games running on your phone need a fast response time for you to keep up with other gamers.

Games streaming over a cloud computing service like Nvidia GeForce Now or Google Stadia also need a high-speed link.

How long is latency on mobile networks?

Often faster than an eye-blink.

That’s getting closer to the theoretical 4G latency of just 10ms.

But that’s just today’s latency.

How do I find my web connection’s latency?

Lower jitter is good because it means your connection is more reliable.

Just remember these measures of latency are useful but simplistic.

When will 1ms latency be possible?

Don’t hold your breath.

“Latency is one of the most difficult and complex topics.

People think there’s a silver bullet, and there isn’t.”

What does a few milliseconds of latency mean in the real world?

Networks have to respond fast if they want to keep up with the human nervous system.

Equipment maker Nokia has 290 such customers already.

Why do we have to wait so long for low-latency 5G?

Upgrades to5G standalone (SA) technologysidelines the slower 4G equipment for 5G connections.

So telecommunications companies have to spend a lot of money to make low latency real?

“Every single place where a cell tower connects to the core internet has to be upgraded.

That takes a long time,” O’Donnell said.

But it’s not just telco giants.

“Each 100 miles of fiber optics adds 1ms to the delay,” Linder said.

New standards work also is underway.

That’s mostly useful for business functions like running factory equipment.

CNET’s Eli Blumenthal contributed to this report.