I know that because of the distance the data has to travel, and light only being so fast, the connection will take longer, and the first bit should arrive slower than downloading from a server which is closer, but once that first bit arrives from the server, shouldn't the rest follow straight after?
For example, if 100 cars set off from France to Spain, it wouldn't take long for the first car to arrive and they should all arrive at the same time. If they set off from China to Spain, it would take much longer, but after the first car arrived, wouldn't the others arrive just after in a continuous stream?
Or does it send one bit (or one packet), then by the time it sends the next, some other bits/packets have been sent so there is "traffic" in between?