What Is Latency?
THE SECRET TO A LAG-FREE CONNECTION
THE SHORT ANSWER
Latency is simply the reaction time of your internet connection. It measures exactly how many milliseconds it takes for a piece of data to travel from your device, reach a server on the internet, and return back to you. If your latency is high, your connection feels delayed and sluggish.
THE DEFINITION EXPLAINED
When you click a link, shoot a weapon in a video game, or speak during a video call, your device sends a tiny packet of data out into the world. That packet has to physically travel through cables under the ground, across oceans, and into a data centre. It then has to travel all the way back to your screen.
This journey takes time. We measure this round trip in milliseconds (ms). When gamers complain about "lag", what they are actually experiencing is high latency. Their button press is taking too long to register on the game server.
LATENCY VS PING
People often use these words to mean the same thing, but there is a slight difference. Latency is the actual delay in the connection. Ping is the utility tool your computer uses to send a signal out to measure that latency.
SPEED VS LATENCY (THE CAR ANALOGY)
It is very common for people to upgrade to a massive 1 Gigabit download speed and still experience lag. Why? Because bandwidth and latency are two completely different things.
- Bandwidth (Download Speed): This is the width of the road. A wider road lets more cars travel at the same time. This is great for downloading massive files quickly.
- Latency: This is the speed limit of the road. No matter how wide the road is, if the speed limit is low, the cars will take a long time to reach their destination.
If you are playing a game online, the amount of data you are sending is tiny. You do not need a wide road. You need the cars to travel at absolute top speed.
WHAT IS A GOOD SCORE?
Run a simple speed test online to find your ping. Here is what your result means in the real world.
| MS RANGE | RATING | WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU |
|---|---|---|
| 0 - 20 ms | Excellent | Flawless. Perfect for highly competitive esports and cloud gaming. Usually requires a full fibre connection. |
| 20 - 50 ms | Good | Very responsive. Great for almost all multiplayer gaming and perfectly smooth video calls. |
| 50 - 100 ms | Average | Okay for web browsing and Netflix, but gamers will start to notice a slight delay in their actions. |
| 100+ ms | Poor | Noticeable lag. Video calls will feature awkward delays and online gaming will feel frustrating. |
HOW TO OPTIMISE YOUR LATENCY
If your numbers are too high, there are several things you can do to fix it before switching providers completely.
- Ditch the Wi-Fi: The absolute fastest way to drop your latency by 10ms to 20ms is to plug your PC or console directly into your router using an Ethernet cable. Wi-Fi signals are unstable and add delay.
- Check Your Server Region: If you are gaming, ensure you connect to the server closest to your physical location. A player in the UK connecting to an American server will always have a ping above 90ms simply because of the geographical distance.
- Fix Bufferbloat: If your latency only spikes when other people in your house are downloading files, your router is struggling to queue the traffic. You may need to enable QoS or SQM on your router.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
IS PING THE EXACT SAME THING AS LATENCY?
They are technically different but used interchangeably by most people. Latency is the actual time it takes for data to travel from A to B. Ping is the specific signal your computer sends out to measure that latency.
WHAT IS A GOOD LATENCY FOR ONLINE GAMING?
For fast-paced competitive games, anything under 40 milliseconds is excellent. Between 40ms and 80ms is playable for casual gaming. Anything over 100ms will usually result in noticeable lag that will impact your gameplay.
WILL UPGRADING TO A 1 GIGABIT CONNECTION LOWER IT?
Not automatically. Upgrading your speed only increases how much data you can download at once. However, if upgrading moves you from an old copper line to a full fibre optic line, your latency will drop significantly because fibre cables transmit light much faster.
VERDICT: SHOULD YOU CARE?
Netflix Streamers? ⚠️ No. High ping won't stop a movie once it starts buffering.
Remote Workers? ✅ Yes. High ping causes people to talk over each other on Zoom.
Gamers? ✅ Absolutely. It is the most important metric for online play.
