The handshake between server and client doesn’t cost bandwidth, although it makes a full round trip. Until the connection is open, the bandwidth is zero.
Lowering the handshake fastens the connection. The earlier the handshake ends, the faster the connection starts. To beat this penalty for every connection, we put the servers close to the clients. When the distance is short, the connection starts earlier.
- Source(s): Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann
