Why is my ping so high in video games?

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dude7691

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Oct 23, 2013
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Hello everyone! I have recently been experiencing issues with my internet connection. I get around 800+ ping on Battlefield servers and counter strike servers. However, when I use CMD to test my ping to websites such as google.co.uk, my ping is less than 20ms. I live in Wales on a main road and my internet has never been great but we are using an 8mbps connection at the moment. I get around 2 bars of wireless signal most of the time and have run tests with speedtest.net. These results are the following:
Ping: 23ms
Download speed: 3.7-6mbps
Upload speed: 0.7mbps.
I understand these are not great but I have been able to play fine before and only in the last few days has the problem existed. I did a system restore to see if it would fix it and it hasn't. I use Skype whilst I play usually but only have the game open as well, apart from steam maybe. This is extremely annoying and I need some advice from someone who knows what they are doing with this kind of thing. Your help would be VERY much appreciated. Thank you :D
 
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You have to be somewhat careful about believing the "ping" time a games tells you. In most cases this is not a actual ping packet it is measuring delays by motoring its traffic to the server and measuring the delays. Analyzing these delays is critical to proper movement and other factors in a game. This is actually a much better representation of how well the game is running than a true ICMP ping packet.

The problem is people assume that this number only represents network delays because it is called "ping". You will find many examples of people getting the ingame ping time to drop by reducing the resolution of the video which is in no way related to network delays.

Your best bet is to try to run ping commands from another...
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MeteorsRaining

MeteorsRaining

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Jul 27, 2014
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Ping does not depend on connection, it depends on the location of the server and its distance from you. A server in UK will have sub 50 ping, but a server in USA will have higher ping, a server in Aus will have even higher ping, no matter how fast the connection is, the signal will take the same time to travel a given distance, be it on 100Mbps fibre connection or 2Mbps broadband.

Moreover, wireless is NOT good for gaming, it'll only increase your ping, you need a cable connection for optimum ping.
 
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dude7691

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Oct 23, 2013
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The server I am trying to play on is in Germany. However, joining UK servers does not seem to make a whole lot of difference and there are very few that are populated in Battlefield. I never connect to servers in the USA or in Australia, the furthest is Russia but that is only if I can't find anywhere else. It seems intermittent, it is down to between 30 (supposedly even though it isn't) and 450. I will try to get a cable but am not sure if that is possible at the moment. Thanks :D Any more suggestions?
Here is my network adapter: http://uk.tp-link.com/products/details/?categoryid=243&model=TL-WN721N

 
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bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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You have to be somewhat careful about believing the "ping" time a games tells you. In most cases this is not a actual ping packet it is measuring delays by motoring its traffic to the server and measuring the delays. Analyzing these delays is critical to proper movement and other factors in a game. This is actually a much better representation of how well the game is running than a true ICMP ping packet.

The problem is people assume that this number only represents network delays because it is called "ping". You will find many examples of people getting the ingame ping time to drop by reducing the resolution of the video which is in no way related to network delays.

Your best bet is to try to run ping commands from another device in your house to various ip in the internet while the game is reporting high ping times. If this independent machine shows issues then you actually have a network problem otherwise it is something else masquerading as a network issue.

The obvious network problems are wireless interference of one for or another or over utilization of your internet capacity or maybe the rare chance you have some problem with the ISP connection but that would show up in other ways not just in a game.
 
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