A good ping is extremely important for successful online gaming, particularly because it enhances the gaming experience and reduces the chance that server glitches will take place. A lower numbered ping is considered better because it is the amount of time that an echo is received from the server that you are connecting to. This is essential for player and business-hosted online games such as Minecraft. The difference in the gaming experience on a low latency ping server vs a high ping is massive. Check out our Minecraft server test results, updated for 2021 and beyond.
A shorter period of time to receive a response from the server will lower your overall ping and likely enhance your internet connection to the server. Higher pings are not ideal for several reasons, particularly because there are input delays and several other server glitches that can take place.
Many of the advantages and disadvantages of your ping will be mentioned in the following sections. This guide will also briefly cover some important tools that can be used to test your internet connection and ping.
What is a good ping for gaming?
Ping is typically measured in milliseconds, and there are several tools available online that can assist you in determining your ping. This free ping tool is a simple way for users to analyze and test their internet connection in real time.
An ideal ping would be any number under 50 ms, particularly for competitive online gaming. An average ping would be considered anywhere from between 50 ms – 150 ms. This is usually an acceptable attribute and will allow you to play games sufficiently on most game servers.
The problems really start when the ping rises above 200 ms. This is where major server glitches can begin to take place. Users could expect server glitches, input delays, communication issues, and general server lag when playing with a ping over 200 ms. There is also the chance of losing connection to the server if your ping is consistently above this region.
Geographical location can have a major impact on ping attributes. A west coast player is likely to have a significantly better ping to a west coast gaming server than an east coast server. This is why many major gaming corporations place servers in many different locations across the world to ensure that there is always a server location adjacent to players in each particular region.
Consequences of a Bad Ping
We have already briefly touched on the consequences of a poor ping. Usually this is accompanied with major server lag and potential connection issues. Many competitive gaming servers actually have safety nets installed that will ‘boot’ players with consistently poor pings. This is why a solid internet connection is imperative for competitive online gaming on both gaming consoles and gaming computers.
Testing and Improving your Ping
Users can easily test their ping with several online connection tools. There are also some software programs that can help you in troubleshooting the causes of a poor ping and potentially recommend some fixes to help improve your gaming connection.
It should be your main goal to reduce your ping to the lowest possible number in milliseconds. This will improve your entire experience and reduce server issues substantially. Now that we have talked about all the positive and negative effects of your ping, you should head over to the Dotcom-Tool’s Free Ping Test to see where your ping stacks up.
Dotcom-Monitor’s free ping test helps you check the response time of your websites and servers from three global locations. You can access even more locations by signing up for a free 30 day Dotcom-Monitor trial, and access all our global locations with a Dotcom-Monitor Starter or Professional plan.
Our ping test sends ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) packets to your specified host address and both measures responsive times and detects errors from one of our 25 monitoring locations around the world. This in turn gives you a global view of the specified host’s availability and performance online.
Having sent packets, our ping test reports on the duration of each ICMP request in addition to the request’s status – success or failure. If a failure is reported, you’ll also receive an error code and description (e.g. DNS error code 12007).
This free ping test is just one of the ways Dotcom-Monitor can help you test and improve your websites, applications and online infrastructure. Register for a free 30 day trial and begin monitoring your websites and web applications today.
