What is Ping and why does it matter?

If you've ever experienced lag during online gaming or noticed delays in video calls, you've likely encountered high ping. Understanding what is ping and why it becomes elevated can help you improve your internet experience and enjoy smoother online activities.

What is ping and how does it work?

What is ping exactly? Ping measures the time it takes for data to travel from your device to a server and back again, expressed in milliseconds (ms). Think of it like shouting across a valley and timing how long it takes to hear the echo return.

When you send data online, whether loading a website or playing a game, your device sends packets of information to servers. Ping measures this round-trip journey time. The lower your ping, the more responsive your connection feels.

Ping works by sending a small data packet to a destination server, which immediately sends it back. The time this process takes is your ping measurement. A ping test essentially asks "are you there?" to a server and measures how quickly it responds "yes, I'm here."

How ping affects your online experience

Ping directly impacts how responsive your internet feels. High ping creates noticeable delays between your actions and their results online. When browsing websites, high ping means pages take longer to start loading, even if your download speed is fast.

For video calls, high ping causes delays between speaking and being heard, creating awkward conversations where people talk over each other. Streaming services can buffer more frequently with high ping, interrupting your viewing experience.

Gaming suffers most from high ping. Your character movements, weapon firing, and interactions all feel delayed, putting you at a significant disadvantage against players with lower ping connections.

Hey!Broadband offers low latency and minimal ping, perfect for competitive gamers seeking instant responsiveness, remote workers who need seamless video calls, and businesses that depend on fast, reliable cloud access.

Why ping is high: common causes

Several factors explain why ping is high in your connection. Distance plays a major role - connecting to servers far from your location naturally increases ping due to the physical distance data must travel.

Network congestion during peak hours causes high ping as data packets compete for bandwidth. When many people in your area use the internet simultaneously, everything slows down, including ping times.

Your internet connection type significantly impacts ping. Satellite internet typically has very high ping due to the enormous distance signals travel to space and back. ADSL connections often struggle with ping, especially if you're far from the telephone exchange.

WiFi issues can cause high ping even with a good broadband connection. Interference from other devices, thick walls, or distance from your router all contribute to ping problems. This is why Hey! Broadband recommends optimal router placement for the best performance.

Background applications consuming bandwidth can increase ping. Large downloads, streaming services, or cloud backups running in the background create network congestion that affects ping times.

Old or overloaded networking equipment struggles to process data efficiently, leading to higher ping. Routers that haven't been restarted in months can develop performance issues that increase ping.

What ping speed is good for gaming and streaming?

What ping speed is good depends on your online activities, but here are general guidelines:

• Excellent ping: Under 20ms - Perfect for competitive gaming where every millisecond matters. This provides near-instantaneous response times.
• Good ping: 20-50ms - Suitable for most online gaming and all streaming activities. Most people won't notice any delays at this level.
• Acceptable ping: 50-100ms - Still playable for casual gaming, though you might notice slight delays in fast-paced games.
• Poor ping: Over 100ms - Noticeable delays that significantly impact gaming and can affect video calls.

For streaming video content, what ping speed is good, isn't as crucial as for gaming. Streaming can tolerate higher ping because the content buffers ahead of time. However, lower ping still improves the initial loading time of streams.

Hey! Broadband's full fibre connections typically deliver excellent ping figures, often under 20ms, thanks to the direct fibre connection that eliminates delays common in copper-based networks.

Does ping affect fps?

Does ping affect fps? This is a common question among gamers. The short answer is no - ping doesn't directly affect your frame rate (FPS). These are two completely different measurements.

FPS measures how many frames per second your graphics card can render and display. This depends on your computer's hardware, particularly your graphics card, processor, and the game's graphical settings.

Ping measures network latency - how quickly data travels between your device and game servers. While ping doesn't change your FPS, it can make low FPS feel worse or create the illusion of frame rate problems.

However, does ping affect fps indirectly? In some online games, high ping can cause stuttering or inconsistent frame delivery that appears similar to FPS drops. Your computer might render 60 FPS perfectly, but high ping makes the game feel choppy because of delayed server responses.

Some games implement lag compensation that can create visual effects resembling FPS issues when ping is high. Characters might appear to teleport or rubber-band, which looks like frame rate problems but is actually network latency.

For the smoothest gaming experience, you want both low ping and high, stable FPS. Hey! Broadband's reliable connections help ensure your ping stays low and consistent, eliminating network-related performance issues that might be mistaken for FPS problems.

Understanding what is ping and managing it effectively transforms your online experience. Whether you're gaming competitively, working from home, or streaming content, lower ping makes everything feel more responsive and enjoyable.

If you're ready to explore your options and find the perfect broadband deal for your needs, check out our range of packages or give us a call at 0330 822 2878. Our friendly customer service team is here to help make your switch to Hey! Broadband a swift and stress-free experience!