Galactic communication network

From Wiki

Star systems are connected by three tiers of communication links.

• Direct laser (or x-ray) communication link star systems at light speed. The throughput is relatively low.
• Bullet ships connect star systems at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Throughput is moderate.
• Slow ships connect star systems at very slow speeds. Throughput, however, is high.

It is possible for information to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other.

There is always a shortage of interstellar bandwidth, so interstellar communication is expensive.

Whether interstellar communication is fast or slow is an open question. High order intelligences think at many, many MIPS, so in the years it takes for a message to go from one system to another they get a lot of thinking done. This might make interstellar communications seem slow. On the other hand, high order intelligences live VERY long lives of thousands or even millions of years. This means that waiting two or ten years for a reply to a letter may seem quite reasonable, even if you think a lot and very fast.