What Is Ping and Latency?
Ping and latency are both measures of how long it takes for data to travel between two points on a network. Latency is the generic term for this delay; ping is the most common tool used to measure it. High latency makes real-time applications like online gaming, video calls, and VoIP feel sluggish, laggy, or choppy - Even when you have plenty of bandwidth.
Latency, Jitter, and Round-Trip Time
| Term | Definition | Impact | Good Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latency (one-way delay) | Time for a packet to travel from source to destination | Determines how "snappy" real-time apps feel | <20ms (local), <80ms (gaming) |
| Round-Trip Time (RTT) | Time for a packet to reach destination and return - What ping reports | Directly affects web page load initiation and game responsiveness | <50ms excellent, <150ms acceptable |
| Jitter | Variation in latency between successive packets | Causes audio glitches and video buffering in real-time streams | <10ms for VoIP/gaming |
| Packet loss | Percentage of packets that never arrive | Triggers TCP retransmission; causes choppy VoIP; visible lag spikes in games | 0% ideal; >1% problematic |
How the Ping Tool Works
The ping command sends ICMP Echo Request packets to a target host and waits for ICMP Echo Reply responses. Each reply reports the round-trip time in milliseconds. The standard ping sends a configurable number of packets (default 4 on Windows, unlimited until interrupted on Linux/macOS) and reports min/avg/max RTT and packet loss percentage. Example: ping google.com on Windows or macOS.
What Causes High Latency
- Physical distance - Signals travel at roughly two-thirds the speed of light through fibre, so London to Sydney carries ~80ms of irreducible propagation delay.
- Network congestion - Queuing delays at overloaded routers and switches add variable latency (bufferbloat).
- Wi-Fi interference - Wireless contention and retransmissions add 5–50ms over a wired connection in the same location.
- VPN overhead - Encryption and routing through an additional server adds 10–40ms depending on server location and protocol.
- ISP routing inefficiency - Some ISPs route traffic suboptimally, adding unnecessary hops. Use traceroute to diagnose.
- To reduce latency: use a wired Ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi; choose the geographically closest servers; use low-latency protocols (WireGuard for VPN, UDP for games). Measure your baseline with the speed test.
Running and Reading Your Own Ping Tests
Useful ping flags by platform
| Goal | Windows | macOS / Linux |
|---|---|---|
| Basic test (4 packets on Windows) | ping example.com | ping -c 4 example.com |
| Continuous monitoring | ping -t example.com (Ctrl+C to stop) | ping example.com (continuous by default) |
| Set packet count | ping -n 20 example.com | ping -c 20 example.com |
| Larger payload (load sensitivity) | ping -l 1400 example.com | ping -s 1400 example.com |
| First target to try | ping 192.168.1.1 (your router) - Separates Wi-Fi problems from internet problems | |
A three-step isolation method
Ping your router first: anything above a few milliseconds (wired) or ~10ms (Wi-Fi) means the problem is inside your home - Move closer to the access point or plug in a cable. Then ping a nearby public resolver like 1.1.1.1 to measure your ISP leg. Finally ping the actual service that feels slow. Wherever the number jumps is where the delay lives, and traceroute can then pinpoint the exact hop.
Latency Is Not Bandwidth - And Why Pages Feel Slow Anyway
A connection can test at hundreds of megabits on the speed test and still feel sluggish, because loading a page is a chain of round trips before any bulk data flows: DNS lookup, the TCP handshake, the TLS handshake, then the request itself - Each one paying the full RTT. At 100ms RTT that is hundreds of milliseconds of pure waiting per new connection, repeated across every domain the page touches. This is why CDNs place content near users, why HTTP/3 cuts handshake round trips, and why no bandwidth upgrade fixes a latency problem. More bandwidth makes the pipe wider, never shorter.
What This Means for You
Decide which number your use case cares about. Streaming and downloads care about bandwidth and tolerate high latency; gaming, video calls, and remote desktops care about latency and jitter and barely touch bandwidth. The cheapest latency wins are local: cable instead of Wi-Fi removes wireless jitter entirely, and a less congested Wi-Fi channel or closer access point helps when wiring is impossible. If pings to your router are clean but pings to the internet are not, the evidence points at your ISP or its routing - Test at different times of day, document it, and you have a support case rather than a vague complaint.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good ping for gaming?
Under 30ms feels instantaneous, under 60ms is solid for competitive play, and under 100ms is fine for most genres. Above 150ms, fast-paced games noticeably lag. Jitter matters as much as the average - A stable 60ms beats a 30ms connection that spikes to 200ms.
Why is my ping high but my download speed fast?
Because they measure different things: bandwidth is capacity, latency is distance and queuing time. A fibre line to a far-away or congested route delivers huge throughput with slow round trips. Fixes target the path - Closer servers, wired connections, better routing - Not a faster plan.
Does a VPN increase ping?
Usually, since traffic detours through the VPN server - Expect a small increase to a nearby server and much more to another continent. Occasionally a VPN lowers ping by routing around a congested ISP path. Test with and without, using the same target, to know your case.