Why is the Ping time so high in Windows 11/10

When it comes to Internet speed, most of us think of speed. It's not that it doesn't matter, but when it comes to online gaming, there's one more thing that matters - the Ping time. It plays an important role when playing games and if you notice lag or the game shows high ping times compared to other online players then that is a disadvantage. This post will help you find out different reasons for high Ping time in Windows 11/10.

What is Ping Time?

Ping is a measurement of how long your computer spends communicating with the server. Computers, routers, and other devices communicate over the Internet using various protocols. The longer the ping time, the more likely they are to have communication problems.

Imagine you play a multiplayer game where people come from different locations. The machine with the lowest ping time will respond to operations faster than the machine with the higher ping time. In short, fast ping means a more responsive connection.

Technically, Ping is the number of milliseconds it takes for a packet of information to travel from your location to the server and vice versa.

What do the terms 'low ping' and 'high ping' mean?

These terms are often used to describe the speed at which a user's computer receives information from the Internet. When testing, the lower the ping time, the better. Let's say you are in the US and the server is in Singapore. The ping time will be higher when you compare to a server in Europe or Japan.

That is the main reason that gamers are connected to the nearest server instead of the server of their choice. This setup ensures no one has a high ping advantage.

Why is the Ping time so high in Windows 11/10?

There can be many reasons why the Ping time of the connected device is high. Here are the top reasons why your ping time is too high.

1. Internet Service Provider

Ping times are not guaranteed even if you have the best gaming hardware, the best WiFi or Ethernet connection, and the best WiFi adapter. Everything depends on the ISP. In most cases, users usually choose an ISP that offers good, cheap speeds, but ping times are undisclosed. It's also one of those hard to find.

Your best bet is to find out if anyone is using the Internet and check the ping times or try and test it yourself with your own set of devices.

2. Hardware

This is the second leading reason and is mainly related to WIFi. Most devices are connected by router and too many threads can lead to your device being less prioritized, resulting in high ping times.

The point is that you need a router that can prioritize devices based on needs, i.e. gaming, streaming, etc. Look for the Quality of Service (QoS) feature in the router.

Above all, if you can't connect via Ethernet, make sure the wireless hardware on your PC is powerful enough to get the speeds you need. The author of the article switched from USB WiFi Adapter to PCIe based adapter and the difference between ping time and speed is huge.

If you are near your router, you should definitely connect using an Ethernet cable.

3. Check signal strength

Assuming you're on WiFi, make sure you have a strong enough signal and fewer dead spots from wherever you feel the ping times could be better. Signal strength depends on many factors, such as the distance between the user and the wireless router and the thickness of the wall.

If there are too many dead spots, you should upgrade to a Mesh network and this will help reduce ping times. Another possible alternative is a Powerline Ethernet Adapter which works fine but a few factors need to be carefully considered.

What is delay? What does lag mean?

Ping time is technically called latency. Ping is a signal or packet sent from one computer to another and vice versa. The time it takes to do this is called latency. The longer the timeout, the greater the delay. So when gaming, if you see a frame skipping, it's due to high latency. You will feel things slow down or a scene changes suddenly.

How to check Ping time?

Open Command Prompt or any Terminal, type ping and any website name (for example, ping google.com ). The results will include one of the factors as time and the average will tell you the ping time. Also, a lot of websites can help you with ping testing, such as Speedtest.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 17 August 2021