Ping Tool: Test Network Connectivity & Speed

Network technology icons overlaid on a cityscape to suggest connectivity

Having an internet connection has become a basic necessity for modern life, but it’s not always enough in itself. For some of us, we need to not only be connected but to have a fast connection.

Think about how frustrated you get when there’s lag while you’re trying to work, stream a video, or play a video game. Having an internet connection with low latency, also known as ping, is an essential thing that most of us take for granted.

Understanding what ping means and how it works is beneficial if you plan to keep using the internet. This guide provides a useful ping definition, why it’s important, and how you can improve it.

What is a ping?

When it comes to the internet and networking, ping means how fast a data signal can travel from one place (your computer) to another place (a website or server).

You might think, “I know how fast my signal is, I have a 50 Mbps connection.” Ping and speed are separate but related concepts. Your internet plan speed really means the maximum speed you can expect to get from your ISP. You can run speed tests to see what your actual speed is at any given time.

Ping is a measure of the actual time data takes to travel rather than how much data can travel at once. Think of it this way: While you might be able to receive 50 Mbps of data, there will be a tiny delay, called latency, between your request for that data (e.g., clicking “Play”) and when that data is actually delivered.

An internet speedtest result of 416.85 mbps with 8 ms ping

Ping is important for testing how long it takes data to travel from your computer across the various internet connections and nodes, reach the computer on the other side, and then get back to you. This data is then calculated to determine how fast the connection is to the other computer and how quickly a particular data transfer can be completed.

Where did ping come from?

Ping is actually an acronym of “packet internet/intra-network groper.” The word ping comes from the sound that a submarine’s sonar makes when it bounces off physical objects underwater. Sending out a ping to a server works on a similar concept.

Ping started out as a program that allows you to send out a test signal to another computer to see if it exists and how fast it responds. A ping sends a “packet” of electronic data to a specific IP address and “waits” for an electronic signal/tone that’s known as a “pong.” (“Waiting” for the pong is an inaccurate term: It takes a brief moment to get the response back.)

You may hear someone speak of a “high ping” or “low ping”, or you may hear someone say they are “sending a ping.” These all refer to the same idea: testing the connection speed.

How does ping work?

The ping rate, which is also known as latency, is a number that corresponds to delay time on the internet measured in milliseconds. For example, you might ping a server and get a result of 30 ms or 19 ms.

The higher the number, the more data transfer delays you might experience while you’re online. If you play online games, especially first-person shooting (FPS) or driving games, then you want the latency to be less than 30 ms. For most other activities, anything under 100 ms is good enough.

You can send out a ping to a website to see if it’s responsive, usually for troubleshooting issues. If you want to ping google.com from your home network, for example, you can open the command prompt on your computer (In Windows, search “command prompt.” On a Mac, search “terminal.”), type ping google.com, hit Enter and see the results. This will also tell you how long it took for google.com to respond, in milliseconds.

A command prompt window screenshot with a ping test to google.com

The ping test used to be an important time saver for people when they would send files using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), which is a special way to use the internet to send a file directly from one computer to another. This process was used more often before it became easy to attach and send large files to someone else through emails.

The sending computer would “ping” the receiving computer, and if it didn’t get a quick enough response (or any response), it wouldn’t waste any more time trying to connect. It’s similar to finding out that a phone number is disconnected, at the push of a button, without actually having to call.

What is a ping storm?

Of course, there are always some tech-types who take something helpful or even harmless and turn it into an online prank or attachment. Using a “ping storm,” a computer hack can take down a website server temporarily.

The hacker sends thousands of ping “packets” at once (padded with extra and irrelevant electronic baggage), and the unsuspecting server is overwhelmed by the ping attack and can’t serve its normal customers efficiently.

What is ping spoofing?

Ping spoofing is sending fake pings to a server to make it appear like your data packets are coming from another IP address. By sending out false information on a network, people who use ping spoofing make it look like their connection is lagging when it’s really not.

Why would someone want to ping spoof? It is used most often by online gamers. A player will make themselves appear to have a super slow internet connection, which may prevent other players from being able to attack them. At the same time, the ping spoofer can take advantage of this manipulation to attack other players or find other game perks.

What is ping in gaming?

Ping is incredibly important for online games. Too much lag could create a bad gaming experience or even ruin the game for you. Because online games rely on the ability of gamers to send and receive messages from the game’s server, you want to try and have the lowest ping possible for gaming.

Most other activities you do online don’t require such low latency to function properly.

The following ping rates apply to most online games:

15 ms and below	Excellent
15-45 ms	Great
45-100 ms	Acceptable
100-250 ms	Barely Playable
250+ ms	Unplayable

Keep in mind that the type of game may change the ideal ping. FPS games like Call of Duty and Battlefield require lower latency than most other games, usually in the 50–90 ms range.

Massive multiplayer online (MMO) games like World of Warcraft and real-time strategy (RTS) games like Age of Empires typically aren’t as sensitive to ping as FPS games.

Just how important is ping in gaming? It can have a significant impact on game performance. When you’re playing by yourself or with a few friends for fun, some dropped packets here and there are no big deal. But at global esports events, every little bit matters.

That’s why big esports tournaments have all the players connect to the game on the same local area network (LAN), to be sure the players’ performance is based on their skills — and not the strength of their network — as much as possible.

A woman using a VPN connection on her laptop

How to Improve Ping

There are several ways you can improve your ping, i.e., reduce the number of milliseconds it takes your computer to send and receive data packets.

Ensure the server you’re sending data to is physically closer to your location. For online games, that means choosing to play on a server in the same country or region of the world as you. If you’re in France playing on an Australian server, your ping will be higher, so you’re better off choosing a server in Europe.
Use a VPN to stabilize your connection. With a VPN, you can also select an IP address in a location that’s closer to the server you want to connect to. If you’re playing an online game that only has servers in a certain part of the world and it’s nowhere near where you live, you can use a VPN to move your connection closer to the game’s servers.
Reset your Wi-Fi router and reboot your device to reset the DNS cache and get rid of any unnecessary data that might be taking up space.
Switch from a wireless to a wired connection with an Ethernet cable. A wired connection is more stable than a wireless one, so it could help lower your latency.
Check your operating system for updates. If your device is updating in the background, that can definitely cause higher ping rates. Change the update settings so they don’t happen automatically and interfere when you’re doing other high-bandwidth activities on your device.

Conclusion

Having high latency can be a pain. It takes you longer to do things, lowering your productivity. For some online games, high latency makes the game nearly unplayable. Improving your ping, or lowering the amount of time it takes to send and receive data packets, could make using the internet easier for you.