“My ping’s too high!”
Whether you’re a gamer who’s been through it with their ping, a parent hearing this exact phrase screamed through the walls of your house, or even having issues on FaceTime with your grandpa, best friend, or significant other, you know how frustrating high ping can be.
One second everything is working perfectly. The next, your game is lagging, your FaceTime call is freezing, or you and your coworker are spending half a Zoom meeting accidentally talking over each other.
But what actually is ping? And why does it matter so much?
So, What Is Ping?
Ping measures how quickly your device can send information to a server and get a response back. It’s measured in milliseconds (ms), and when it comes to ping, lower is almost always universally better.
Think of it like having a conversation with a friend.
You ask a friend a question, and he takes a certain amount of time to process said question before giving a response. Ping is basically measuring how long that Q&A takes.
A 20 ms ping means that response is close to immediate. At 100 ms, there’s a decent amount of time in between the question and answer. Get much higher, and maybe he’s distracted on his phone or doing something else, and you have to repeat the question.
This delay is commonly referred to as internet latency, and it matters a lot more than you might think. The FCC identifies latency as an important part of broadband performance, specifically for things happening in real time like online gaming, video calls and voice calls.
Ping for Gaming
If you’re a gamer, you probably already know the answer: lower = better
Every time you move your character, shoot at someone, pass the ball, or make any other input in a live online game, that information has to travel between your device and the game server.
When you have low ping, it seems almost instantaneous.
When you have high ping, it feels like you’re moving underwater.
You press a button and nothing happens. You end up doing the same action 5 times because you pressed it multiple times out of frustration.
That lag is usually caused by high ping (unless the server is potentially congested or slow, etc.). Generally, under 50 ms is considered pretty good ping for gaming, at least at the more casual/for fun level, while higher numbers can become increasingly noticeable, especially in competitive games where quick reactions matter. If you are trying to play at an extremely high competitive level, having over 30 ping can be considered detrimental to some.
Lower latency allows gamers to receive updated information from a game server more quickly. So if you’ve ever wondered why your game is lagging even though you have fast internet, your ping could be the culprit.
It’s Not Just Games
Maybe you couldn’t care less about gaming.
Ping still matters.
Ever been on FaceTime and watched someone’s face freeze mid-sentence?
Higher ping creates a longer delay between you sending information and the other person receiving it. That can make FaceTime, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Discord and other video calls feel frustrating and unbearable.
For example, Zoom recommends network latency of 150 ms or less for calls and meetings. The higher that number gets, the more noticeable delays can become, and this can really impact you, as whether you’re working from home, talking with family, taking an online class, or having a business meeting or interview, low latency internet helps everything feel more like an actual conversation and not kill the flow of the conversation.
Fast Internet ≠ Low Ping
One of the biggest misconceptions about internet performance is that internet speed and ping are the same thing.
They’re not.
Your download and upload speeds tell you how much data your internet connection can move at once. Your ping tells you how quickly information can make the trip.
For instance, you can have a massive eight-lane highway, but if there’s a semi in each lane slowing traffic down, you’re still not getting there very quickly (Can you tell this is a pet peeve?).
That’s why you can have Gigabit internet and still experience lag.
So Why Is My Ping So High?
So you’ve run an internet speed test, your download speed looks fine, but your ping is still way too high.
What gives?
There is a variety of things that can cause high ping and here’s a few reasons:
- You’re far away from the server you’re connecting to (probably the biggest factor)
- Your Wi-Fi signal is weak
- Too many devices are using your network
- Someone is downloading or uploading a large file
- Your router is outdated or poorly positioned
- Your network is congested
- Your internet connection is having trouble efficiently reaching the server
Distance is a big one.
If you’re sitting in Michigan trying to connect to a game server halfway around the world, your data physically has farther to travel. That trip takes time, even if we’re only talking about milliseconds.
How Can I Lower My Ping?
If you’re trying to figure out how to lower ping and reduce lag, there are a few easy things to begin with.
Start with your connection. If possible, plug your gaming PC or console directly into your router with an Ethernet cable. A wired connection removes some of the variables that come with Wi-Fi.
If Ethernet isn’t an option, make sure you’re relatively close to your router. Hiding your router in the basement behind three walls and a bookshelf probably isn’t doing your connection any favors.
You can also try:
- Connecting to a closer server
- Pausing large downloads or uploads
- Restarting your router
- Moving closer to your Wi-Fi router
- Disconnecting devices you aren’t using
- Updating older networking equipment
- Checking your internet speed and ping
And yes, sometimes the problem can just be your internet connection.
Where Does Fiber Internet Come In?
This is one of many areas where fiber internet can make a big difference.
Fiber networks are capable of delivering extremely fast download and upload speeds while supporting the responsive connection needed for online gaming, video calls, streaming and working from home.
And modern households ask a lot from their internet.
You might be playing Valorant upstairs while your roommate is on FaceTime, someone downstairs is watching Netflix in 4K, and somehow there are another 6 devices connected to the Wi-Fi that nobody is using at the time.
Your internet has to try and keep up with all of it. Fiber internet isn’t nearly as affected by the number of devices on a network like typical cable internet is. When everyone in the neighborhood logs on during peak evening hours, speeds drop no matter what. Fiber uses dedicated or higher-capacity optical lines that avoid this neighborhood-wide bottleneck to make it less congested and less affected by the amount of devices.
That’s the difference right there, and it’s a big one.
TL;DR
So, the next time someone in your house yells:
“My ping is too high!”
You’ll know what they’re talking about, and maybe even have some possible solutions to the issue.
Ping is essentially a measurement of how responsive your internet connection is. And whether you’re gaming, FaceTiming your grandparents, sitting through a Zoom meeting, or talking with friends on Discord, lower ping and lower internet latency guarantees a smoother, better experience for all online activities.
Download and upload speeds still matter, of course. But they definitely aren’t everything.
So the next time you do anything online, take a second to look past the big download number, as it can be deceiving. Make sure to check your ping, too.
Because sometimes the difference between a smooth night online and wanting to throw your controller across the room comes down to a few milliseconds.