What Is A Good Ping?

Ever wondered why you are experiencing delays while browsing the internet despite having a fast connection? The reason could be your high ping. A majority of ISPs will only mention download and upload speed but will never mention ping.

In this article, we will go through everything you need to know about ping and how it can affect your browsing experience. Before you learn what is a good ping, you should know what exactly is ping.

What is Ping?

Ping refers to the signal sent to a different server which then sends the signal back to you. Unlike Download and Upload speed which is measured in megabits per second (Mbps), ping is measured in milliseconds (ms). The lower the ping, the more superior it is. You can check your connection’s ping by running an online internet speed test.

So what can be considered good ping

The lower the ping, the more superior it is. Generally, ping below 100ms is considered average. If you mainly only browse the internet, then the ping below 100ms is more than sufficient.

But if you are (or want to be) a professional gamer or streamer on Youtube or Twitch, then anything between 20ms to 50ms is considered average. Anything above 50ms is not good for online gaming and streaming.

what is a good ping speed?

Good ping speed depends on your usage of the internet. If you main only browse various websites then anything below 100ms is considered average. But if it is for gaming, then 100ms is not a good ping.

If your ping is 50ms or less, then it is considered very good for normal online activities. Even for competitive gaming, 50ms is considered pretty decent.

But if your ping rate is more than 150ms, then you start having problems. You will start dropping frames in the games and there might also be a delay while with your daily online activities.

If your ping rate is higher than 500ms, then it is considered very bad. You will have delays doing anything online. If your internet speed test shows that you have more than 500ms ping, then it means you have high latency. It is better to avoid such high ping.

what is a good ping for gaming?

Compared to just online browsing, gaming is much more competitive hence it requires much better ping. This is especially true for competitive games.

If you want to be a professional gamer or a streamer, then you should make sure that your ping is as low as possible. Here is a rough idea of ping ranges that can be considered good or bad:

A ping rate of 10ms is considered very good. For professional gamers, it is the ping.
A ping rate of 20ms or less is considered decent.

If the ping rate is between 20ms and 50ms, then it is considered average. This is the bare minimum ping one should opt for online gaming.

If the ping rate is between 50ms and 100ms, then it is considered bad. This is especially true for fast-paced games where an fps (Frames per second) drop can cause you to lose the game.

If the ping rate is between 100ms and 300ms, then the game will be almost unplayable. You will suffer long delays when the ping is this high.

what is a good ping and jitter?

During your online gaming sessions, there might be times when you experience lag. This could be due to jittering in your network.

You must be wondering, what is jitter? Jitter is the time delay between the transfer of data packets over your network.

Jittering could be caused by overcrowding your ISP connection. Wireless connections can also be the reason for jittering.

Whereas ping measures latency. In layman’s terms, it is the signal sent to a different server that then sends it back to you.

It is the time taken to complete this whole process is called ping. Ping is usually used to test your network’s bandwidth, whereas jitter is used to check the consistency of your network.

what is a good ping for wifi?

Ping on a wireless connection will be always higher compared to a wired connection. As we mentioned above, ping lower than 50ms is considered very good, especially for daily online activities. For activities like competitive gaming and streaming, 20ms is considered decent.

And anything above 150ms will start having delays and for gaming, it will be almost unplayable. But if your ping is 500ms or above, then everything will have delays. If you wish to have good ping, then it is better to use an ethernet cable instead of relying on your WiFi.

How to Lower Ping?

If you have a high ping rate, then there are some simple tips you can follow to lower your ping. Here are some of them of those tips:

If it’s possible go for a server that is geologically closer to your location. The closer the server is, the lower the ping rate will be as the signals won’t have to travel far.

If you have a bunch of devices connected to your internet connection, then they may also cause high ping even if they are idle. So disconnect some devices to lower the ping rate.

If you have a bunch of background programs opened, then you should consider closing them too. Even if you are not using them, they will still consume bandwidth which will make your ping rate higher.

Opt for an ethernet cable if you haven’t. Ping is much better and has a wired connection compared to a wireless connection. So, if you want to be a professional gamer or a streamer, then you should opt for an ethernet cable.
If possible, you should get a fiber connection as that will offer much better consistency.

Final Talk

If you are a professional gamer or a streamer (or want to be) then having a good ping is very essential. In this article, we went through everything you need to know about ping. If you want to check your network’s ping, then you can do so by visiting a website called Speedtest.