Physical Locking of Fiber Optic Refractive Index
Node delay constrained by the speed of light:
- Theoretical delay from London to Singapore is 158ms (10,800km × refractive index 1.47 ÷ speed of light)
- Node encryption takes 38ms
The total of 196ms is the absolute lower limit, with an investment of $9,500/month only reducing it to 185ms (ROI 8%), far lower than the $2,800 investment for 196ms with an ROI of 34%. The global node uniformly selects 195±3ms as the economic operating point.