What is Ping and How to Reduce It?

Verification of Connection Quality

The abbreviation ping comes from the English term Packet InterNet Groper, which means "verification of data files transmitted over the internet" in loose translation. It is indeed used to check the functionality and speed of the internet connection between two given network interfaces in a computer network. It has great significance for keeping an up-to-date overview of the speed and quality of the established and utilized connection. Its value can vary continuously. It will never stay at a fixed value. However, even with a certain degree of tolerance, it will serve you well to verify the actual quality of the connection. Upon receiving a response, a suitable program can determine the delay length and display the result as a statistical figure.

What Ping Value is Sufficient?

Ping is very closely monitored primarily by players of multiplayer computer games. With a higher ping, the player's reaction is "slowed down", and therefore at a great disadvantage. To have a chance to succeed, the optimal ping for these games is between 0 and 50 ms (milliseconds).

A somewhat worse, but still acceptable ping for less demanding game titles, is 50 to 100 ms.

With a ping value in the range of 100 to 200 ms, you will still surf the web, receive, and send files without much trouble. However, for trouble-free online gaming and video conferences, it is not suitable.

A value of 200 to 1000 milliseconds is a high ping, which is just an unusable nightmare for online gamers.

Desperate ping with a response time of over 1000 milliseconds is just infuriating. Even for free, such a connection is excessively expensive.

How is Ping Actually Measured?

Many multiplayer games have continuous ping measurements built directly into the control panel display. Otherwise, you can of course verify this value at any time in case of suspiciously slow connection. Here is our ping test - ping/response test. Just click the Start ping test button and in a moment you will know what your connection's ping is.

How Can You Significantly Reduce Ping?

Latency (reaction time or delay) of the signal is naturally most influenced by your internet provider and operator. Do not directly correlate upload and download speeds with the ping value. There is some connection, but that is not the way forward. If you do not want to change providers or pay extra for a better connection with a low ping guarantee, first pay attention to hardware inspection.

Sometimes, a suitable upgrade can be a possible way to improve computer performance and significantly reduce the ping value (especially with low RAM capacity or insufficient graphics card performance). Try to look for the problem also in an out-of-date router. Try another one and if you see improvement, you are on the right track. Malware or viruses can also negatively affect ping, so regularly check your computer.