Ross,
Messages (or packets) are sent through the internet via routers. The routers
keep a constant monitering of what routes are best and fastest for a packet
to travel from one place to another. The packets are sent from one router to
the next along a chosen path. One packet from you to a friend can be
sent along a certain path, via many routers, and the next packet may be sent
via a
totally different path. These paths are not always of equal length, so sometimes
the packets arrive at thier common destination in the wrong order.
Peter Egerton,
Vancouver, BC, Canada


>Perhaps i'm the onl¥ one who ever wondered about this, but could someone
tell the list why 2
>messages, sent minutes apart, can arrive at very different times - often
the second one before the
>first (making it quite incomprehensible sometimes!!)??
>-Ross M.
>
>
Peter Egerton, Vancouver, Canada
Collector of worldwide Mollusca