Ping, Latency, and Jitter — What's the Difference?
These three terms are often confused but measure different aspects of your network's responsiveness. Understanding them helps you diagnose connection problems beyond just download speed.
What Is Latency?
Latency is the total time it takes for data to travel from your device to a server and back. It is measured in milliseconds (ms). Lower latency means a more responsive connection.
Latency is affected by:
- Physical distance to the server
- Number of network hops (routers) between you and the server
- Type of connection (fiber < cable < DSL < satellite)
- Network congestion
What Is Ping?
Ping is a measurement of latency — specifically the round-trip time measured by sending a small packet to a server and waiting for a response. The terms ping and latency are often used interchangeably.
- Under 20ms: Excellent — competitive gaming, real-time applications
- 20–50ms: Good — gaming, video calls, VoIP
- 50–100ms: Acceptable — streaming, browsing
- 100–200ms: Noticeable delay in interactive applications
- 200ms+: Poor — significant lag in games and calls
What Is Jitter?
Jitter is the variation in latency over time. If your ping fluctuates between 20ms and 80ms, your jitter is 60ms. High jitter causes choppy video calls, stuttering in games, and inconsistent performance even when average ping is acceptable.
- Under 5ms: Excellent
- 5–20ms: Good
- 20–50ms: Noticeable in video calls and gaming
- 50ms+: Poor — causes significant quality issues
Why Jitter Matters for Video Calls
Video conferencing apps (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet) use buffers to smooth out jitter. High jitter forces larger buffers, which increases delay. Very high jitter causes audio dropouts and pixelated video that no buffer can fix.
How to Reduce Ping and Jitter
- Use a wired Ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi
- Connect to servers geographically closer to you
- Reduce network congestion by limiting other devices during calls or gaming
- Upgrade from DSL or satellite to fiber or cable
- Enable QoS on your router to prioritize latency-sensitive traffic
- Restart your router to clear congestion
Measure Your Ping and Jitter Now
Our free speed test measures your ping and jitter in real time alongside download and upload speeds. Run the test to get a complete picture of your connection quality.