How to read your ping results
| Ping | Rating | Good for |
|---|
| Under 30 ms | Excellent | Competitive gaming, everything |
| 30–60 ms | Good | Most online games, video calls |
| 60–120 ms | Fair | Browsing, streaming, casual games |
| Over 120 ms | Poor | Noticeable lag in games and calls |
Watch the chart as well as the average. A flat line of bars means a steady connection. Tall spikes mean lag spikes, which often come from Wi-Fi interference or another device using lots of bandwidth.
Ping, jitter and packet loss
- Ping (latency): the delay for a round trip. Lower feels more responsive.
- Jitter: the average jump between one ping and the next. Under about 10 ms is smooth.
- Timeouts: requests that took longer than 2 seconds. Even a few can cause freezes in calls and games.
Fixing a high or unstable ping
- Plug in with an Ethernet cable and test again. If ping drops, Wi-Fi was the problem.
- Pause streaming, downloads and cloud backups on other devices.
- Restart your modem and router.
- Turn on QoS (quality of service) in your router settings, if it has it, to prioritize gaming or calls.
- If wired ping is still high or spiky, contact your internet provider.
Need your download and upload speed too? Run the full internet speed test.
Last reviewed October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is a ping test?
A ping test measures latency: how long a small message takes to travel from your device to a server and back, in milliseconds (ms). Lower is better. It also shows jitter (how much the time varies) and lost requests.
What is a good ping?
Under 30 ms feels instant and is great for competitive gaming. 30–60 ms is good for most games and video calls. 60–120 ms is usable but you may notice delay. Over 120 ms often feels laggy in fast games.
What causes high ping?
Distance to the server, Wi-Fi interference, a busy network at home (someone streaming or downloading), an overloaded router, or congestion at your internet provider. A VPN also adds latency because traffic takes a longer route.
What is jitter?
Jitter is the average change in ping from one measurement to the next. If ping jumps between 20 ms and 90 ms, jitter is high, and calls can sound choppy and games can stutter even though the average looks fine.
Is this the same as the ping command?
It measures the same idea in a browser-friendly way. The command-line ping uses ICMP packets, which browsers cannot send. This test times tiny HTTPS requests to our nearest server, which closely reflects what web apps and games feel.
How can I lower my ping?
Use an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi, stop large downloads and streams while gaming, restart your router, choose a game server closer to you, and turn off VPNs you don't need.