Anecdotal evidence from this forum suggests that some users achieve high download success rates both in terms of the number of files downloaded and the speed at which some of the downloads can occur. As I understand it, best results are achieved either from one's immediate peer group or by only having to make one hop (messages being dropped after three hops anyway).

Question: to what extent does network topography map on to physical geography?

I am located in Singapore where there are comparatively few other users. Is my presence on the geographical periphery also always two or three hops away from the rich grazing fields of America or Europe? Or are the connections between nodes made randomly and regardless of the physical distance the signals have to travel between nodes?