Why is My Ping so High? How Do I Fix It?

Ping is a computer network administration software utility that is used to test the reachability of a host on an Internet Protocol network.

Roughly speaking, you need lower ping for a good streaming and gaming experience online. High ping causes lag and that is not something you would like while playing a thrilling action game like Among Us, and PUBG.

Also, Read: How to Fix High Ping Issues in Among Us

What Causes a High Ping?

However, there are many reasons why you might be experiencing high ping. The simplest explanation would be, that it’s how much time one takes to send data from your device or location to another server and back again.

This interval is compared to the number of milliseconds it normally should take for information to complete its round trip. It can either be faulty cables or wireless connections that might cause this delay.

The problem also lies in incorrect routing which you will only get if you do not change routes often enough i.e., by not switching your ISP.

How to Fix the High Ping Issue?

There are many methods that can be used to prevent high ping, but most of them include buying or managing your own router and an associated connection.

For example, if the latency is what’s making you experience the high ping, then perhaps it would be best if you changed your ISP which is an easier solution since you only need to pay for internet service cutting out any additional expenses by replacing hardware or cables.

You might also be experiencing packet loss which is mainly obtained due to overheating routers because they are not being cleaned enough.

The third reason why your pings are so high will probably be the most complex. This is when each ISP blocks packets to certain destinations, which will cause your ping time to be usual for the first few pings but after these are completed the rest of them will take extra long to arrive.

You can fix this by getting a VPN connection that could change your location by using an IP address from another country.

Also, Read: Top 5 Best VPN Available Right Now

How do I Know if My Ping is High?

There are several ways you could measure how much latency connectivity you have by testing or benchmarking tools such as Device Tests or Ookla’s speed test which both give you information on the latency and not just download and upload speeds.

However, with internet connections in today’s world obtaining a monthly average is usually what most ISPs do. This is why if you are experiencing high ping, the best thing to do would be to wait for a bit since your ISP usually measures average latency during peak hours or weekends which is not when most people use their connection.

Why Does my Ping Only Changes After I Lose Connection?

If this happens, then it could mean that these are separate connections that run on different servers, so your ISP could have it divided into two connections where one goes through a normal route and another might take longer because of physical obstructions or being overloaded.

However, sometimes having too much equipment between you and the target server may cause higher latency as well if there are multiple hops separating you from your destination.

Also, check if some neighboring devices such as cordless phones or microwaves do not interfere with your connection.

Also, Read: Is Mac as Safe as You Think?

Why Does My Ping Keep Flactuating?

This usually means that there is a problem with your ISP’s routing policy, which they have to monitor and fix on an hourly basis if needed.

Another condition that might make this happen would be how much load their network has and of course where you are physically located in the world.

If you think about it, even the closest server to you might not help if it’s overloaded or under stress because of other reasons.

However, get in touch with your internet service provider for any further questions you may have since they can explain how high latency works and what steps should be taken to get rid of it.

My Low Pings Are Unstable, What Can I Do?

A ping test is usually accurate for determining connection stability only if the latency shown by the ISP matches that of the speedtest.net results which are also used to compute your pings.

However, having an unstable or fluctuating low ping doesn’t always mean that there is something wrong with your connection.

This is mainly due to certain location-based issues which will need you to do some further research on how it works and check out whether the information provided by various online tools match each other.

Some ISPs could also use routing policies where they change routes constantly so this would be another reason why your low pings may seem stable but not stable enough.

It might even be possible that the game servers you are playing on are located far away from your location, so you might think the connection is stable, but if you move closer to their servers, it will change.

Also, Read: How to Manually Add VPN Profiles on Any Device

Should I Use a VPN?

Well, this obviously depends on what you want and if you really need one as for example for privacy reasons where someone does not take metrics of your activities online.

However, usually signing up with a VPN service could help because it can provide better encryption especially when using public Wi-Fi at airports or cafes, and sometimes even faster speeds.

This also goes without saying that any data theft, unwanted ads, or malware could be blocked depending on the provider since there are free VPNs out there, besides privacy reasons some people use them to access services such as US Netflix which are not available in certain countries.

Also, Read: VPN Buying Guide: All You Need to Know

How Does High Ping Affect Streaming and Gaming?

For example, if you are playing a multiplayer match then there might be other players who have higher speeds than yourself and thus it would not matter whether they lag or delay because their advantage would be that of having better latency.

However, if the case is your opponents have faster speeds than you it could get annoying since you would always get shot first or reacting slower to events such as bomb explosions that happen around the map.

This means that whatever server functions such as hit detection and damage-based numbers will be based on how fast each user receives information from the game servers so whichever has the best ping within the group will probably win (I know that sounds like crap but it’s not the devs’ fault).

Should I Complain to My ISP?

Before you do so, there are a few things that should be considered because if your internet service provider has issues with their network it might get worse and because of that, they might cancel your subscription.

It is also important to think about how serious this problem actually is, since if you have 100Mbps download speeds for example but get 90Mbps all the time then you could just downgrade your plan instead of contacting customer support every day.

Another thing to consider is whether other users are having similar problems where if 10 people out of 20 complain then maybe something should be done about it.

However, if no one else notices issues with the connection or even during peak hours then it might just be your issue alone.

Also, Read: How to Use Internet Anonymously

How Can I Test My Ping?

There are many free online tools where you just have to enter the game’s server IP address and perform a Ping Test which will show you how fast the connection is between them and yourself.

One example would be devicetests.com where there is also an option to use servers outside your country (EU, US, etc.) which should increase speeds but make sure that there won’t be any issues with connecting to foreign game servers if that is what you need for this kind of testing.