Mesh network didn't help with internet latency

[StuartR]

I'm in Oregon and I've had good sessions with players in New York, Virginia, Ontario, etc so I know it is POSSIBLE but also subject to the conditions.
Highest latency = weakest link. It's cumulative.

There is a new feature that could improve your session performance. In the Management menu/Network options you can specify  Audio Relay Server connection priority. for you friend in SF, use the default setting and have them start the session. For yourself, select "prefer host ARS" then join the session. In theory, you (with the lowest latency) will now connect to the ARS server that your friend (with the highest latency) is already connected to, thus resulting in a lower cumulative latency.

I have a friend in New Mexico, who was unable to participate in sessions I started, but after having HIM start and me follow, that problem was resolved, using the method I described above.

Our personal attempts using the ARS infrastructure didn't yield good results because there wasn't a server close enough (lower latency path) to assist. When we tried there were only about 100 ARS servers globally and none at all in many less populous states. They were using Amazon for hosting these so your target state had to have an Amazon AWS presence.