How To Lower Ping For Improved Online Gaming Speeds

It is clear that everyone needs a low ping speed. However, even with a super-fast internet connection, your ping might still be high. This points to an issue in the communication latency between two networks. Come along as we find out how to lower the ping rate for a better online gaming experience.

What Is Ping?

The term "ping" is actually an acronym for Packet Internet or Internetwork- Groper. Ping means the time it takes for a small data set to be transmitted from your device to a server on the internet. It is then transmitted back to your device. For our purposes, the Ping rate is a crucial element and indicator of online gaming.

Ping time is measured in milliseconds (ms). Generally speaking, ping times range between 5-ms to 30-ms. When a ping command is issued, a signal is sent to a specific address. The target address receives the request and sends a reply packet. This exchange of information verifies the availability of the target address and confirms the round trip time.

When it comes to determining the speed of a network, ping is the standard for this determination. It is important to note that even unsuccessful pings are important because they deliver information that can help you to troubleshoot. In addition, pings are not restricted to one. You can send out four or five pings at once.

How To Lower Ping Rate

Most gamers will tell you when video games lag. The culprit is most usually a very high ping rate. For gamers, ping directly affects the lag time. It is also the amount of time a game takes to recognize your gameplay. Even with an online gaming experience, it is going to be very difficult to play a game with lag.

There is no one way to reduce ping. There are many ways to reduce a high ping. For most if not all people, it is a simple trial-and-error process. However, here are a few processes by which you can lower your ping. They are:

1) Speed Test

Conducting a speed tests at different times of the day will help you to establish a baseline. A baseline is important to help you establish the Wi-Fi speeds. Additionally, a speed test can more accurately point to the reason for your high ping. For example, your router or modem could be the culprit, and a speed test will indicate this.

After selecting the speed test, you want to use, start by closing all open windows and programs running in the background. Then proceed to reboot all of your hardware. Next, connect your computer to your router via an ethernet cable and start the speed test. You can also unplug the ethernet cable and conduct wireless tests to see if the numbers change.

There are tons of speed tests available online for free. The most efficient speed test is called the Ookla speed test. It is efficient because it is fast, easy, and simple to use. Other speed tests include the speedof.me speed test and the speedsmart speed test. The speedsmart test is perfect if you want to measure ping speed to servers all over the globe.

2) Use A Local Server

This is very important because it is easier to use a server within your region compared to using a server all the way in Asia. Of course, online games offer you a selection of servers from all over the world. If possible, select a server or servers in your geographic location. Additionally, you could use a VPN to hide your geolocation.

Connecting to a local server will reduce ping and lower latency. If you are trying to play Fortnite in North America, it will be better to connect to a local server via VPN compared to connecting to one in Asia.

3) Use Ethernet

If you use Wi-Fi, ensure to use a 5GHz connection. A 2.4GHz connection is very slow for the purposes of online gaming. The physical distance between your gaming computer and the Wi-Fi router will affect your ping rate. Additionally, Wi-Fi routers are known to contribute to packet data loss.

Using a wired connection will vastly contribute to lowering ping. Additionally, your internet speeds will be boosted, not to mention very stable. Additionally, you will be able to play online games better and without any sort of form of lag, given the lowered ping rate.

4) Change Your Gaming Settings

Most online games have auto-adjust settings where you can make changes to the settings of the game for a better gaming experience. However, cranking the settings to maximum may actually lead to a lag in your gaming. Everyone expects the best from their gaming computer processor and graphics card.

You might think that maximizing the settings on your processor and graphics card will boost your speed. However, that is not true. This may drain the resources your game needs to run at optimum function. You can easily tweak the settings a little so that your game can operate faster.

5) Router Upgrade

The quality of your hardware also determines ping speeds. Like other devices, routers also deteriorate over time. Additionally, if you are using the same router that your service provider issued you with, then it might not be optimized for your online games. You can always purchase a new router that is more suited to your gaming needs.

Gaming routers send very strong signals to your network, therefore, reducing ping and increasing efficiency. If you don't intend to purchase a gaming router, then you can still make do with yours. You can position your router closer to your gaming setup and also get the most ideal settings for gaming on your router.

6) Upgrade The Internet Connection

For gaming, fiber optics connections work best. This is because fiber optics are 20 times faster than regular Wi-Fi. An internet speed of at least 5GHz is recommended for gaming. Additionally, you can use fiber optics for playing with X-box and even Ps5. It provides a better response time.

7) Maintenance In Your Area

If you have a noticeable lag in your gameplay, your service provider might be carrying out maintenance. If everything else fails, then try calling your service company to ensure there is maintenance being carried out in your area. While this might cause a temporary inconvenience, it will be better for your ping speed.

Serious gamers usually need to ensure a very reliable and consistent high-quality gaming experience. This should include the high bandwidth and symmetrical download, low ping rate, and upload speeds that all gamers need.

Reasons Your Ping Could Be High

There are a lot of causes as to why your ping could be high. However, there are a few issues that are mainly the culprit when it comes to a high ping. Therefore before you go through the trouble of trying to troubleshoot, here are some reasons your ping could be high:

a) Outdated Router Or PC

Gaming-specific computers and routers handle a lot of large data packets. This means they have to be high-performance and always updated. They are also very capable of the work they are built for. Additionally, even if your connection speed is excellent, the quality of your equipment can affect the speed.

Apart from an outdated router or PC giving you lag, it can also pose a security threat by making you vulnerable to security risks. Furthermore, it becomes a problem that hinders the speeds of all web downloads and file transfers between any connected devices. If your router is more than 5 years old, it could be outdated.

b) Firewalls

Firewalls are a good thing. They check any incoming data packets. However, checking large data packets takes a lot of time. Therefore, you will be waiting for a very long time for updates and downloads, especially large ones. This can be solved easily, especially for gaming. To solve this, ensure to make an exception for any games you might like.

You should know that completely disabling your firewall can also lead you vulnerable to attack from malicious data packets. You can allow your game through the firewall without compromising your other devices.

c) ISP Throttling

When your ISP throttles you, it means your internet provider is intentionally slowing down your connection. This usually happens depending on what you do online. For example, Internet providers usually slow down download speeds because of the high bandwidth requirement. Downloads refer to how much data is pushed from a server.

On the other hand, uploads refer to how quickly you have to send data to others. However, in gaming, upload speeds often have a larger impact on response time and game performance.

Why Is Ping Important In Online Gaming?

i) High-Tier Gameplay

Professional E-sports games are usually LAN events. LAN minimizes ping so that the games boil down to individual performance rather than the network performance. Furthermore, any online game that has a shooting genre attached to it is dependent on low ping for good output and performance.

The guns and aiming become more accurate. Additionally, the fights can last longer if you play well. However, you have to pay attention to other high-tier players; otherwise, your character could end up dying in the game.

ii) Peekers Advantage

The term "peekers advantage" describes how the delay between players due to low ping. It allows a momentary advantage in reaction time for a player coming around a corner. This is important as their character model has not yet come around the corner for their opponent. Therefore, the player with a lower ping will see his enemy faster when he peeks around a corner.

Due to multiple factors such as the frame rate, ping, game server, and movement input, the player who is peeking, will see the enemy holding the angle first. Additionally, low latency is usually always superior. This is because your player's actions get to the gaming server faster than your opponent's actions.

iii) High-Ping Indicator

Ping-sensitive games have some sort of ping indicator. This usually shows up on the start menu, and some games offer it as an optional user interface element. In games where you specifically pick a server to connect to, the server browser usually always includes a ping indicator and often allows you to sort by best ping.

A ping under 20 milliseconds is actually very good. Anything just under 100 milliseconds is average. If you experience anything above 100 milliseconds, then you will subsequently get a freeze or a lag that will be noticeable.

iv) Distance Of Travel

By this, we mean the distance the data packet has to travel to another device or server. Furthermore, for PS4 gamers, the geographical location is important. This is because PS4 relies on peer-to-peer connections for online games. This means the consoles are connecting to each other as compared to going through a dedicated server.

Many gamers do not know that using Wi-Fi can cause a lag as they play. Therefore they could simply use ethernet cables and enjoy gaming. Additionally, there are also other solutions apart from Wi-Fi and ethernet cables.

The Bottom Line

People usually turn to video games as a form of relaxation, and others are competitive players. Either way, no gamer wants to experience low latency and lag attributed to high ping. This article is perfect for every gamer who wants to know how to eliminate high ping for the best gaming experience.

Additionally, a simple maintenance of your devices can go a long way in keeping low ping. This keeps you playing at optimum levels. Therefore, select internet connections that are easy to implement and maintain. We hope this article helps you out with your ping troubles, and hopefully, they resolve in no time.