[ntp:questions] Local Time NTP Server

William Unruh unruh at invalid.ca
Mon Aug 24 14:07:15 UTC 2020


On 2020-08-24, Jakob Bohm <jb-usenet at wisemo.com.invalid> wrote:
> On 2020-08-24 12:51, Beth Connell wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I'm struggling to find any information on where the free NTP servers are geographically based. In particular, I'm wondering where Facebook, Google, Microsoft, etc are based within the UK. Just for curiousity, I'm wondering how this affects any interference to my location.
>> 
>> Thanks
>> 
>
> All NTP time is GMT (now named UTC, after HM government dropped the
> ball).  The only geographic factor is the "ping time" to the time
> server, the servers that are the most distant (longest ping) are the
> GPS and Galileo satellites, that are hundreds or thousands of km from
> the receiver, and use their own (non-NTP) protocols to correct for the
> delay.

It was renamed because UTC has nothing to do with Greenwich. For
historical reasons, the time at Greenwich is the same as UTC. 
(Note that the prime meridian now runs through a garbage can in a park
just south of the Thames rive in London and not along the line marked
on the ground in Greenwich. No idea why you believe the govt dropped the
ball. Because the location of Greenwich moves (plate techtonics) it
would introduce inaccuracies into the definition of time if it were tied
to Greenwich. Also, you cannot ping the sattelites. 
>
> Another problem is if the NTP server is one of those that deliberately
> return slightly wrong time before and after each leap second to "smooth
> out" the leap, some of the companies you mention reportedly do that.
>
>
> Enjoy
>
> Jakob



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