What is ping, jitter and latency?

To put it simply, all three refer to lags in your broadband speed. High rates of latency, jitter and ping shows as an inconsistent connection, glitching audio, and lagging video quality. 

• Latency measures the amount of delay it takes to send any information from one end to another, usually measured in milliseconds (for example 30ms).
• Jitter refers to delays in sending or receiving data packets over your network connection, usually measured in milliseconds (for example 30ms).
• Ping is the rate at which data delay is happening, usually measured in milliseconds (for example 30ms).  

There can be plenty of factors causing high ping, jitter and latency. These include:   

• Your gaming device is connected to WiFi rather than a wired connection
• The location of the gaming server you’re playing on is too far from you 
• Too many devices are connected to your broadband, using up all your bandwidth
• Your provider’s broadband connection just isn’t up to scratch
  
  

1. You can’t fix what you don’t know about, so test your broadband speed.
2. Use a wired connection rather than wireless, because the latter can be affected by everything from walls to water and even other devices getting in the way.  
3. If you can’t lessen your connected devices, increase your bandwidth. 
4. Avoid old copper or combination-fibre networks which aren’t built for such high capacity activity and often slow down internet speed during peak hours to counter this. Copper is also easily damaged and slows down over time. 
5. Choose a 100% fibre optic cable, and if you’re in London, switch to London’s largest and fastest full fibre broadband network, rated 4.5 out of 5 on Trustpilot (as of October 2024).