Ping, jitter, bit rates… There are tools to measure all these factors, which come into play in judging the good quality or not of an internet connection. We tell you all about it, and take the opportunity to give you some tips that will help you decrease your ping. You can finally play online without latency!
The upload and download speeds are not the only indicators to measure the quality of your Internet connection. Often overlooked, ping is also an important element in judging network performance. We tell you all about it and how to test its ping in this folder.
What is ping?
Ping is actually a measure of latency, which may be more meaningful to some of you. This is the time required for a request to make a round trip between the source (your device: computer, smartphone, console, etc.) and the destination (the server with which your device communicates). We also talk about response time, measured in milliseconds (ms). More simply, the ping is the time between the action of the user upon receipt of the expected response.
Too high a ping greatly degrades the user's experience of Internet consumption. Here are some concrete examples to help you better understand the importance of ping. During an audio or video call on WhatsApp, Skype, or another such communication service, there is sometimes a delay between the moment we speak and the moment the interlocutor hears our words. In the worst cases, if the latency is really too important, it is even impossible to have a smooth conversation, because we do not know if the interlocutor is speaking live, and we often find ourselves talking at the same time. time.
Ping is also one of the worst enemies of the online gamer. Each action performed with the keyboard, mouse or controller is slightly offset in time. With a good ping, this delay is hardly noticeable. But when it takes off, you lose comfort and performance. Unable to play CS: GO, Fortnite, Overwatch or even Rocket League with too high a ping, it is guaranteed defeat. Also forget about cloud gaming with a high ping.
How to test your ping?
Now that we have clarified what ping and latency are, it remains to be seen how we can measure them, and thus really realize the behavior of our internet connection. First of all, to judge the full potential of its connection, it must be placed in the best conditions. Avoid using multiple devices connected to the same WiFi network at the same time and be sure to close all computer programs if you are on PC.
The first solution is to use one of the speed test tools available on the web (and sometimes via a dedicated application on mobile). They usually also offer a measure of latency in addition to calculating the speed of the connection. Not all of these services are created equal and we recommend three reliable platforms to perform your tests:
For accurate results, it is recommended to only open your browser on the PC, with a single tab open to perform the test. Specifically for the measurement of latency, the nPerf test is particularly interesting, because it offers an additional data which is jitter. Netflix's tool stands out by distinguishing between charged ping and unloaded ping. A combination of these two devices is a good way to find out your ping.
Another possible method is to use the Windows command prompt. In the search bar located next to the Start menu button, type cmd and click "Command Prompt." Then type the command “ping www.example.com” (without the quotes) and press the Enter key. The manipulation works with any online website.
Note that some video games, especially multiplayer and competitive, sometimes display the ping in game. This is the case of Rocket League, World of Warcraft and many others. The in-game latency is often more important than that displayed by the test tools, because the simple fact of playing online draws a lot on the connection and thus we leave the optimal environment. It is however a good indicator to test the capacities of its connection in real conditions.
Upstream and downstream rates, jitter, loaded and unloaded ping ...
You have carried out your tests (do not hesitate to do several and at various times of the day to obtain a varied sample and obtain more precise average results), let's now analyze what the different results obtained mean. Not all of the items described below are necessarily listed depending on the test you used.
Download speed: Also known as upload or download, this is the speed at which data is received. The unit of measurement is Mb / s (megabit per second). The higher the value, the faster the navigation, the better the streaming quality and the faster the downloads.
Upstream speed: The upstream speed, also called upload or download, is also expressed in Mb / s. It measures the speed of data transmission. The higher the value, the more quickly what we publish online (heavy files, photos, videos, etc.) is available.
Jitter: We come back to what interests us very specifically here, ping. Jitter represents the variation of the ping. The lower the value (in ms), the more stable the connection and the more constant the ping. If the jitter is high, we can see peaks and then drops in ping.
Ping not loaded: This data, always expressed in ms, represents the latency when there is no other traffic present on the network (optimal conditions).
Ping loaded: On the contrary, the ping loaded takes into account the fact that several data-intensive operations are carried out at the same time on the network (real conditions).
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