Poor download or upload speed due to high latency.
Poor download or upload speed due to high latency.
Hey there! I'm working on boosting my PC's connection for gaming, but I'm puzzled about why my speed tests show strong ping despite slow download and upload speeds. Any tips? Thanks!
Ping relies more on speed than on connection strength. It only checks how long it takes for information to travel to the server you're sending data to. Picture a massive laser system that can beam data to the moon—it would still need over a second because light isn't instant. But you could keep increasing your bandwidth by adding more lasers to the setup.
Ping measures how far a signal travels, reflecting travel time between your device and the server. Because packets travel at about half light speed, you can estimate latency using a simple formula. The commonly used term "speed" actually describes "bandwidth," which indicates the rate of data transfer to the server. A wider channel or parallel data streams increase bandwidth, not the speed of individual data bits.
Great example! The distance between Earth and Moon varies between 356,500 km and 406,700 km. So if data is moving at light speed your ping time will vary between 2 x 1.189 seconds and 2 x 1.357 seconds (to the Moon and back). There's nothing you can do to improve that ping time, because the speed of light in a vacuum is the fastest speed possible. It only varies with the current distance of the Moon. However if your one laser is sending x bytes per second, you can easily double your bandwidth by using two lasers. Double it again with four, eight, sixteen etc. So the "speed" can be always be increased, but latency is essentially fixed. The ping/lag/latency in your home is generally somewhere below 1 millisecond, so there's usually not much room for improvement. LAN is always better than Wi-Fi, because neighboring wireless networks might cause transmission errors. If an error occurs and data has to be sent again, that can quickly cause noticeable lag. However, the majority of the latency happens between you and the game server. The ping between you and the speed test server may only be 6 ms, but that doesn't mean it is always 6 ms. It is simply so low, because their server is close to your position. If you're playing on a game server that is further away, ping time will be higher. For example a ping time of 6 ms means there's roughly (6 ms x 0.6 x c) = 1,079 km of cable between you and their server. That is not quite correct, because each hop in between (e.g. your ISP, their ISP, …) adds a little bit of additional lag due to processing time needed in routers, switches etc. to forward data. So they are likely much closer than that actually. But if the game server is halfway around the world (20,000 km) that would already increase ping time to >110 ms (plus some more for processing time needed by routers and the game server). The only way to improve that is to select a game server closer to where you live.
That’s quite insightful. It seems 5G offers significant advantages over 2.4G, though your setup currently works fine with 2.4G. Upgrading your hardware could improve performance, but only if you need the full benefits of 5G. Consider your usage needs before deciding.
Are you sure? It seems you're unsure about the connection strength. Comparing 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz is straightforward—2.4 GHz typically offers a longer range, up to double that of 5 GHz, though it's slower. 2.4 GHz signals can travel farther but are weaker at distance, while 5 GHz penetrates obstacles better but has less range.
Sorry for the mix-up, I meant in general since I haven’t tried it myself. The signal from my PC travels through a staircase down to the basement and then across a wall, covering roughly 30 feet. I’m uncertain if 5G would perform better at that distance and might need a 5G card or USB adapter for testing.