Geographical distance is a small part of the equation mac.

Network topology plays a much larger part. Ted has a serious connection at his office & there are obviously no bottlenecks between him and the server location.

Then you can get into peering agreements and all that fun stuff. Ted's employer would have a lot of folks wanting to peer & can pick and choose the best. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />