For a control, I left my game to run for 15 mins with only the single connector network section set up. For the entire time waited the MS/T remained about 6 MS/T; on average.

With no items being filtered in all of the Basic inventory Hoppers; when the connector block was put between both cables, connecting the Hoppers to the rest of the network, the MS/T began to gradually climb. After 30 mins of waiting, the MS/T managed to reach a whopping 60 MS/T.

Here is a shot of the Basic Inventory Hopper setup

And when the connector block between was removed, MS/T shot down to normal immediately, at around 6 MS/T.

The Basic Inventory Hopper setup was connected to the rest of the system; all hoppers with filters, excluding the bottom row that extracts cooked items, had item filters.

After the connector block was put between both cables I waited 1 hour and 5 mins. I came back to a whopping MS/T of 293 (later reaching 300+).

It seems that the MS/T scales infinitely, slowly increasing at a rate of 1Tick/10-15 Seconds

The latest version should fix the lag issue.