How to Fix High Ping: 12 Practical Steps for Faster Latency

High ping (high latency) makes games feel delayed, calls sound choppy, and remote work frustrating. The key is to identify whether latency is coming from Wi‑Fi, your ISP, bufferbloat, routing, or a VPN—then apply the right fix.

What ping is “good”?

• Gaming: under 30 ms feels excellent; 30–60 ms is fine; 80+ ms is noticeable.
• Video calls: under 50 ms is great; packet loss hurts more than raw ping.

12 fixes for high ping (in the right order)

1) Switch to Ethernet

Wi‑Fi is the #1 cause of inconsistent ping. Test once on Ethernet to isolate the problem.

2) Move closer to the router (or use 5 GHz/6 GHz)

Weak signal causes retransmissions that look like high ping. 5 GHz/6 GHz is faster but has shorter range.

3) Kill background uploads (cloud sync, updates)

Uploads can saturate upstream and spike latency.

4) Look for bufferbloat

If ping jumps dramatically during downloads/uploads, your router may lack good queue management.

5) Restart modem/router (only after measuring)

Reboots can clear a stuck state, but they’re not a permanent fix.

6) Try a different DNS (for slow lookups, not raw ping)

DNS won’t usually change in-game ping, but it can speed up page loads and app connectivity.

7) Change Wi‑Fi channel / reduce interference

Neighbors, Bluetooth, microwaves—interference matters. Auto-channel is often fine, but not always.

8) Check if your VPN is adding latency

A VPN can increase ping depending on distance to the VPN server and congestion.

Fix: choose a nearer server, switch protocol, or temporarily disconnect for latency-sensitive sessions.

9) Try a different game region/server

Sometimes the game’s server is far away or overloaded.

10) Test on another network (hotspot)

If hotspot ping is much better, the issue is likely your home ISP route or local network.

11) Check your public IP routing hints

ISP/ASN data can explain why routes are weird (regional hubs, mobile gateways):

12) Contact ISP if it’s consistent and time-based

If latency spikes every evening, that often points to ISP congestion. Provide timestamps and test results.