[MasterPI]

It takes considerably more time than simply swiping because chip payment transactions ivolve much more communications between the card the POS terminal, the bank entity, payment provider, etc...

Encyption/Decription times are neglible.

[byoung2]

Yeah I found this description of the process: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-how-chip-cards-wor...

Do the systems in Europe take the same amount of time, and have the same amount of communication? I can't imagine passing a JSON object back and forth could take that long.

[pixel_fcker]

The USA is definitely slower than everywhere that's been using the system for more than a decade now. No idea why though as some of the slowest connections I've experienced have been in LA.

In the UK transactions typically take less than 5 seconds with more than 10 seconds usually prompting a response from the owner that it's "playing up today". In New Zealand it's quicker still, and contactless payments seem to get processed slightly quicker as well, although that could just be psychological because it removes the whole insert-wait-enter pin part.

[MasterPI]

I was referring to how the system works here in Europe. I suppose there is no much of a difference in the US.

On each step in the chain (credit card, POS, bank entity, etc.) you have lots of verification and error control each one adding more and more overheadeing.

And let's not forget times regarding the user - pin request, payment type which the user has to select if it is necessary.

[soylentcola]

Right. And if I remember correctly, a swipe is almost exactly the same as typing in the numbers on the card. Not sure if it's still the case but years ago I had a job where we had some "swipe" devices which hooked up to a standard PS/2 keyboard port (to give an idea of when I'm talking about). If you opened Notepad on a PC and swiped a card it just typed out the relevant digits as if you'd keyed them in.