ping is a tool/protocol-function to measure round trip time. one computer sends out the ping, the recipient replies with a pong, and the initiator outputs the time it took from sending out the request to getting the response. it works on most destinations (just open a commandline and “ping google.com”) so it’s not max time, but actual measured time for a single roundtrip. as processing time is minimal this is considered to be the network-latency.