Does the physical distance between players effect latency?

[Chris Frost]

Hey all,

I've been wrestling with JK over multiple sessions during the past few weeks. Last week I was doing a test with a friend in San Francisco (I'm based in the UK), and despite the fact we both had fast wired internet connections running, the session latency had us way up around 150ms which was obviously unusable. We've tried at different times of day & night with the same results. We also had a session where we added a friend in Arizona. He was able to sync pretty well with the guy in San Francisco.

So, my question is, does the latency naturally increase with physical distance? If so, can I assume that a transatlantic session is not a viable option at this point in time?

Cheers,
Olsen

I keep seeing advice to keep sessions within a 1000 mile range ... and then depending on the quality of the network.... many suggest much less! 

I think UK to west coast US is pu$ng the rules of physics a bit :-)