High latency can also cause high delays. For example, your video game might experience high latency, which causes the game to freeze at times and not deliver a live update of the other players. Fewer delays mean that the connection is experiencing lower latency. Network lag happens for a few reasons, namely distance and congestion. In some cases, you might be able to fix internet lag by changing how your device interacts with the network.
Latency and Bandwidth
Latency and bandwidth are closely related but are two separate terms. To understand what causes high latency, it’s important to differentiate it from high bandwidth. If your internet connection were illustrated as a pipe carrying data, bandwidth would refer to the physical size of the pipe. A small pipe (low bandwidth) can’t hold much data at once, while a thick one (high bandwidth) can transmit more data at a time. Bandwidth is often measured in Mbps. Latency is a delay, measured in ms. It’s the time it takes for information to move from one end of the pipe to the other. It’s also called the ping rate.
The Speed of Light on a Computer Network
No network traffic can travel faster than the speed of light. On a home or local area network, the distance between devices is so small that light speed doesn’t matter. For internet connections, however, it becomes a factor. Under perfect conditions, light requires roughly 5 ms to travel 1,000 miles (about 1,600 kilometers). Furthermore, most long-distance internet traffic travels over cables, which can’t carry signals as fast as light due to a principle of physics called refraction. Data over a fiber optic cable, for example, requires at least 7.5 ms to travel 1,000 miles.
Typical Internet Connection Latencies
Besides the limits of physics, additional network latency is caused when traffic is routed through servers and other backbone devices. The typical latency of an internet connection also varies depending on its type. The study Measuring Broadband America (posted in late 2018) reported these typical internet connection latencies for common forms of U.S. broadband service:
Fiber optic: 12-20 ms Cable internet: 15-34 ms DSL: 25-80 ms Satellite internet: 594-612 ms
How to Fix Latency
Latency can fluctuate in small amounts from one minute to the next, but the additional lag from small increases can be noticeable. The following are common reasons for internet lag, some of which are out of your control:
Other Causes of Latency Issues
Some latency issues can be fixed, but the following are latency issues that aren’t usually in your control. Running applications that don’t generate network traffic can introduce lag. For example, a misbehaving program can consume all the available CPU, which delays the computer from processing network traffic for other applications. If a program doesn’t respond, force it to close.
Traffic Load
Spikes in internet use during peak usage times of day often cause lag. The nature of this lag varies by the service provider and the geographic location. Other than moving locations or changing internet service, an individual user can’t avoid this kind of lag.
Online Application Load
Online multiplayer games, websites, and other client-server network applications use shared internet servers. If these servers become overloaded with activity, the clients experience lag.
Wireless Interference
Satellite, fixed wireless broadband, and other wireless internet connections are susceptible to signal interference from the rain. Wireless interference causes network data to be corrupted in transit, causing lag from re-transmission delays.
Lag Switches
Some people who play online games install a device called a lag switch on their local network. A lag switch intercepts network signals and introduces delays in the flow of data back to other gamers connected to a live session. You can do little to solve this kind of lag problem other than avoiding playing with those who use lag switches.
How Much Lag Is Too Much?
The impact of lag depends on what you’re doing on the network and, to some degree, the level of network performance that you’ve grown accustomed to. Users of satellite internet expect long latencies and tend not to notice a temporary lag of an additional 50 or 100 ms. Dedicated online gamers, on the other hand, prefer their network connection to run with less than 50 ms of latency and quickly notice any lag above that level. In general, online applications perform best when network latency stays below 100 ms; any additional lag is noticeable to users.
