China latency benchmark
Router One median latency: ~120ms p50 from Beijing / Shanghai / Shenzhen. VPN-direct to upstream LLM providers: ~620ms p50 with 8–15% timeout rate.
These numbers are what drive the latency claims used elsewhere on the site. They are published monthly from rolling 7-day data so the page is verifiable, not aspirational. Method details live on the methodology page.
Last updated: · Next update: Monthly — first business day of each calendar month
| City | VPN-direct p50 (timeout %) | Router One p50 (timeout %) |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai | 620ms (12%) | 120ms (0%) |
| Beijing | 580ms (8%) | 110ms (0%) |
| Shenzhen | 700ms (15%) | 130ms (0%) |
What we measure
- Probe shape
- End-to-end HTTPS request to api.router.one with a representative chat completion payload (~500 input tokens, ~200 output tokens, non-streaming).
- Window
- Rolling 7 days. Numbers on this page are refreshed on the first business day of each calendar month.
- Publication scope
- This table is a published snapshot for the rolling 7-day window ending on the last updated date. It is not an SLA; contractual availability is documented on /sla.
- Sample size
- ≥ 5,000 requests per city × ISP combination per week. Outliers above p99.5 are reported separately and not folded into the headline median.
- Networks
- Each city runs probes on China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile.
Caveats and reading the table
- VPN comparison baseline
- The 'VPN-direct' row represents calling upstream LLM provider endpoints from China through a typical commercial VPN. Your specific VPN and ISP combination may differ.
- Median, not best case
- Numbers are p50. Tail behaviour (p95, p99) is published in the dashboard for active accounts.
- Region-specific values
- The headline on /claude-code-china and other landing pages uses the median across the three cities and three ISPs. Region-specific pages should label their numbers explicitly.
FAQ
- Can I reproduce these numbers?
- Yes — probe shape, sample size, and ISP set are documented on /methodology. The /benchmarks/china-latency page is refreshed monthly from rolling 7-day data.
- Why is VPN latency this high?
- Cross-border TCP/TLS handshake to upstream LLM endpoints from mainland China typically adds 400-600ms. Router One terminates TLS in-country and routes through provider links optimized for the China-overseas hop.
- What if I see different latency from my own machine?
- Per-request trace in the dashboard shows the latency Router One observed for your specific request. If the dashboard latency differs materially from your client-observed latency, the gap is between your client and Router One — usually local network or DNS, not the gateway.