Hop count

In telecommunication, the term hop count has the following meanings:

1. In a data communications network, the number of legs traversed by a packet between its source and destination.

Note: Hop count may be used to determine the time to live for some packets.

1. The number of signal regenerating devices (such as repeaters, bridges, routers, and gateways) through which data must pass to reach their destination.

Source: from Federal Standard 1037C