What Is Ping and How It Can Affect Gaming: Full Analysis (2024)
Reading time: 7 min
Updated on November 13, 2024
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Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Lead Cybersecurity Editor
Ping measures the time it takes for data to travel between your device and a server. It’s frequently confused with the ping command, which is used to troubleshoot connectivity issues. Another term for ping is latency, which is essentially the same thing. Keeping your ping low is crucial, or real-time tasks like gaming and video calls might start lagging.
Various factors affect ping, including distance to a server, network congestion, connection speed, and the routing your ISP uses. In this article, I’ve covered various tips you can follow to ensure you get the lowest possible ping, thus ensuring lag-free performance in games, video calls, and other real-time applications.
Quick Summary: What Is Ping?
Simply put, ping is the time taken by a data packet to make a round trip between your device and a server. Measured in ms (milliseconds), it indicates the delay between the time you take an action and when it’s registered on the server.
Pro Tip: Use a VPN to Reduce Ping
VPNs can help significantly reduce your ping. They optimize connection routes and help prevent ISP throttling, ensuring your data gets to the destination server and back as quickly as possible. Additionally, the best VPNs have vast server networks, letting you easily find a nearby server that’ll deliver the lowest possible pings.
In my research and testing, I’ve found that ExpressVPN is the best at keeping my ping low. Its speeds are excellent across its entire server network, and on nearby connections, sometimes even faster than my base speed.
Editor’s Note: Transparency is one of our core values at WizCase, so you should know we are in the same ownership group as ExpressVPN. However, this does not affect our review process, as we adhere to a strict testing methodology.
What Is Ping? Detailed Explanation
Ping measures how long it takes for a data packet to travel from your device to a server and back. It’s measured in ms (milliseconds) and indicates how quickly data is exchanged in a network. A low ping means minimal delay, while a high ping indicates increased lag.
When you’re using a service on the internet or playing a game, data packets are constantly being exchanged between your device and the server. Ping measures the time these packets take to make a round-trip between your device and the server. Maintaining low ping is important, especially in real-time applications like the following:
- Gaming. A high ping while gaming will cause lag, noticeably increasing the time it takes to perform actions, putting you at a disadvantage.
- Video calling. Increased ping during video calls can cause disruptions, like noticeable delays between when you say something and when it’s heard on the opposite end.
Various factors affect ping, such as distance to a server, network load, connection speeds, and more. Maintaining a low ping ensures the best performance in online games and other real-time applications.
The Impact of Ping on Gaming
Ping significantly impacts gaming performance. Maintaining a low ping in online games is critical because you’re at a clear disadvantage against opponents otherwise.
The clearest example of this would be any shooter game. If you’re in a 1v1 fight against an opponent and both shoot simultaneously, the player with a lower ping will win every time, as their shot simply registers first. It’s even possible to fire before an opponent and still lose if there’s a significant ping difference between you two.
Ping also significantly affects MOBA games like League of Legends, where precise movements and actions are critical to staying in the lead. If you’re playing with a ping of 150ms, it adds a 0.15-second delay before any action you take gets registered. This makes it significantly harder to dodge enemy abilities or land your own.
How to Lower Your Ping
If you’re experiencing lag while gaming, there are various steps you can take to reduce ping, including the following:
- Choose a different server. If the game you’re playing allows manual server selection, consider choosing one close to you to reduce ping.
- Close background applications. Close any background applications like web browsers, as they may slow down your connection.
- Use a VPN. The top VPNs can help improve ping by preventing ISP throttling and optimizing connection routes.
- Switch to a wired connection. Switching to a wired connection from WiFi can provide a more stable connection and reduced pings.
- Reduce network load. Disconnecting other devices on your network could reduce load and improve ping.
- Restart your router. Simply restarting your router could clear network clutter and lower ping.
The Best VPNs for Maintaining Low Ping
- ExpressVPN — The #1 VPN offering an extensive network of 3,000+ servers and lightning-fast speeds to ensure low ping.
- CyberGhost — Includes various gaming-optimized servers across its network that maintain low ping and ensure a smooth experience.
- Private Internet Access (PIA) — Ensures low pings across its vast server network while costing as low as $2.19/month.
Editor’s Note: We value our relationship with our readers, and we strive to earn your trust through transparency and integrity. We are in the same ownership group as some of the industry-leading products reviewed on this site: ExpressVPN, Cyberghost, Private Internet Access, and Intego. However, this does not affect our review process, as we adhere to a strict testing methodology.
FAQs on Ping
What is the difference between ping and latency?
What is the difference between ping and jitter?
Does ping affect gaming performance?
Yes, ping significantly affects gaming performance. For instance, if you’re playing with 100ms ping, every action you take will occur 0.1 seconds after your input. So, if you play a shooter game at 100ms ping and fire a shot at the same time as an opponent with 50ms ping, your opponent would win that duel, as there’s less delay on their end.
Thankfully, there are reliable VPNs that reduce ping in games like Call of Duty: Warzone and various others. It’s worth using them to ensure you’re never at a disadvantage.
What factors affect ping?
Various factors affect ping, including the following:
- Server distance. The distance between you and the server you’re communicating with directly impacts overall ping.
- Connection speed. Having a slow connection can lead to increased ping.
- Network congestion. Network congestion can cause increased ping or random spikes, which can hinder gaming performance.
- Server hardware. You may experience higher ping if the server you’re communicating with uses outdated hardware.
Keep Your Ping at a Minimum Using a Reliable VPN
In conclusion, keeping your ping low is essential to ensure smooth performance. While it might not affect basic tasks like streaming or web browsing, a high ping will cause issues with real-time activities like gaming and video calls.
Thankfully, the steps I’ve mentioned above should help reduce ping. Most of the suggested methods are effective, but using a VPN is one of the best ways to get lower pings. VPNs can drastically lower your ping by helping prevent ISP throttling and optimizing the route your data travels through to get to the server.
There are various effective options, but ExpressVPN is the best choice. It maintains lightning-fast speeds, and its network of 3,000+ servers ensures you can always find a nearby option. Additionally, it has 30-day money-back guarantee, meaning you can buy ExpressVPN with confidence. If you’re unsatisfied, it’s easy to get a full refund.
Summary — The Best VPNs for Low Pings in 2024
Editor's Note: We value our relationship with our readers, and we strive to earn your trust through transparency and integrity. We are in the same ownership group as some of the industry-leading products reviewed on this site: ExpressVPN, Cyberghost, Private Internet Access, and Intego. However, this does not affect our review process, as we adhere to a strict testing methodology.
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