Latency envelopes when ISPs disagree with your map

Latency Budgets for Edge POP Planning always begins with real traceroute printouts, not idealized diagrams. We ask teams to mark where ISP handoffs spike RTT and where submarine paths dominate. In the lab portion, pairs defend contradictory envelopes—one optimistic, one defensive—and merge into a defensible range for executives. The argument is the learning objective. We end with a calendar note: revalidate envelopes after major sporting events or elections, when traffic shifts in ways dashboards rarely annotate.