What OSI physical layer term describes the amount of time for data to travel from one point to another?

The term that describes the amount of time for data to travel from one point to another at the OSI physical layer is latency. Latency refers to the delay before a transfer of data begins following an instruction for its transfer. It includes any delays that occur along the path that the data takes, whether due to network congestion, processing delays, or the physical distance between the source and destination.

Understanding latency is crucial for applications that require real-time data transmission, such as voice over IP or online gaming, where delays can significantly impact performance and user experience.

In contrast, throughput relates to the rate at which data is successfully transmitted over a network, bandwidth pertains to the maximum capacity of a channel to carry data, and jitter refers to the variability of packet arrival times, which can affect the stability of a connection but not the overall time it takes for data to travel from one point to another.