How long do e-mails take to reach the addressee. Is it an instant thing or does it take time to go through channels ?
2006-09-16 21:30:53 · 17 answers · asked by pat P 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Computer Networking
When you send an email you upload it to an email server computer where it is queued to be sent to the recipients email server.
This normally happens very fast, but if either of these computers are busy it could take up to a few hours, or even days!
Also the recipient must continually check their incoming mail server to check for new mail.
Email is usually very fast and feels like an instant thing, but there is no guarantee of speed of delivery.
2006-09-18 22:08:20 · answer #1 · answered by sprite 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A variety of factors can influence how long it takes.
Think of a car journey from Manchester to London on a clear road you will do it in about 2 1/2 hours. If there is congestion about 4 or more hours.
It is the same with networks - congestion, latency, line speed blah blah.
But usually in a matter of seconds
2006-09-17 12:44:10 · answer #2 · answered by Steve-o87 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It could take days with one provider and varies as to the equipments capacity to handle the traffic.
You may write two words but it takes two hundred to send or receive it.
The speed of light has little to do with it. It only travels at that speed when moving from A to B.
2006-09-17 04:42:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This depends. It may take seconds, or it may take minutes.
Internet is a very complex network. When you send a email, the email may sometime travel across the globe before it reaches your destination. This is dependent on the network traffic and server load.
2006-09-17 04:39:18 · answer #4 · answered by boonleel 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it reaches between 15 to 20 seconds. only some times it takes abt 1 min.
2006-09-17 06:43:23 · answer #5 · answered by Gautam 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sometimes it arrives less than a second after you hit the send button. But sometimes it takes a few minutes to ten minutes for some reason.
2006-09-17 04:50:23 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Within seconds
2006-09-17 04:32:57 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It usually takes very little time. Usually it is in the receivers inbox instantaneously but depending on your internet speed, it can take up to half a minute.
2006-09-19 23:04:07 · answer #8 · answered by palazzolojr 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
normally it arrives instantly, but it may take 20-30 seconds sometimes.
2006-09-17 04:38:47 · answer #9 · answered by slippie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it all depends on who you signed up with, yahoo to yahoo will take a few seconds but yahoo to msn or icq will take a while, different networks and different accounts.
2006-09-17 04:52:04 · answer #10 · answered by dkm2006 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋