<p>Indeed, the current state of the channels is not announced (it is allegedly hidden for privacy purposes). Therefore, <code>A</code> does not know if a route has enough capacity until he tries to make the payment throught that route.</p>

<p>A <a href="https://diar.co/volume-2-issue-25/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">recent study</a> claims that success rate is around 80% for USD 1.2, but only about 1% for transactions larger than 200 USD.</p>

<p>Related question: <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/80130/in-lightning-network-is-the-balance-publicly-anounced-in-realtime">In lightning network, is the balance publicly anounced in realtime?</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-08T18:55:29.737Z
2018-11-08T18:55:29.737Z
cpsola
<p>Let's say a lightning node <code>A</code> wants to route a payment to a lightning node <code>B</code>, being <code>A</code> and <code>B</code> not directly connected.<code>A</code> looks for routes throughout the network, using the info about the total capacity of available channels and construct <code>n</code> possible routes to reach <code>B</code>.</p>

<p>Will <code>A</code> just try routes until eventually one of the <code>n</code> succeeds? </p>

<p>For what I've got by checking the <a href="https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lightning-rfc" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BOLTS</a>, the actual state of each sides of the channels is not announced (is it?), what means that even though a route could have enough capacity to route a payment, one of the channel could be unbalanced and the whole route may fail. Therefore, the potential failure rate when trying to route payments seems quite high.</p>

<p>Am I missing something?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-01T01:37:27.330Z
the pay-request could be generated in such a way that it contains the routes hints! so i would help yo get the right route! sorry, this is more a comment that an answer, but cant comment because of my lack of reputation :/
Emi
<lightning-network><lightning-routing>
Lightning network routing failure rate
sr_gi
# Lightning network routing failure rate

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-11-08)

Let's say a lightning node `A` wants to route a payment to a lightning node `B`, being `A` and `B` not directly connected.`A` looks for routes throughout the network, using the info about the total capacity of available channels and construct `n` possible routes to reach `B`.

Will `A` just try routes until eventually one of the `n` succeeds?

For what I've got by checking the [BOLTS](https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lightning-rfc), the actual state of each sides of the channels is not announced (is it?), what means that even though a route could have enough capacity to route a payment, one of the channel could be unbalanced and the whole route may fail. Therefore, the potential failure rate when trying to route payments seems quite high.

Am I missing something?

**Tags:** lightning-network, lightning-routing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: the pay-request could be generated in such a way that it contains the routes hints! so i would help yo get the right route! sorry, this is more a comment that an answer, but cant comment because of my lack of reputation :/  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-11-08. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Indeed, the current state of the channels is not announced (it is allegedly hidden for privacy purposes). Therefore, `A` does not know if a route has enough capacity until he tries to make the payment throught that route.

A [recent study](https://diar.co/volume-2-issue-25/) claims that success rate is around 80% for USD 1.2, but only about 1% for transactions larger than 200 USD.

Related question: [In lightning network, is the balance publicly anounced in realtime?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/80130/in-lightning-network-is-the-balance-publicly-anounced-in-realtime)


---

