Ping: how long a round trip takes

Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms). Lower values make interactive actions feel more immediate. Distance creates a physical floor, so a distant game region or work server can have higher ping even on a healthy connection. Under 40 ms is excellent for many real-time uses; over 100 ms is increasingly noticeable.

Jitter: how much latency changes

Jitter describes variation between latency samples. A connection that alternates between 20 ms and 150 ms can feel worse than a stable 60 ms connection. Voice and video applications buffer some variation, but high jitter can produce robotic sound, pauses and sudden movement in games.

Packet or request loss: data that does not arrive

Loss forces applications to recover, conceal missing media or wait for retransmission. Even a small sustained percentage can affect live audio and games. This browser test reports failed application requests; it does not claim access to the operating system’s raw ICMP or UDP packet counters.

How the symptoms differ

High ping

Inputs feel delayed, conversations overlap and remote desktops lag.

High jitter

Performance changes moment to moment, with bursts of stutter.

Loss

Audio drops, video blocks, games rubber-band and requests retry.

Low throughput

Downloads take longer and high-resolution streams buffer.

What to do about poor quality

  1. Repeat the test with Ethernet to separate Wi-Fi from ISP issues.
  2. Pause uploads, cloud backups and large downloads.
  3. Move closer to Wi-Fi or use a less congested band or channel.
  4. Disconnect a VPN temporarily and test the same destination again.
  5. Record several wired tests before contacting the provider.

Technical references

These standards define network-layer measurement concepts. This site uses browser-safe application requests, as documented in our methodology.