Signs of High Internet Latency and How to Reduce It

A quality internet connection is necessary in the modern world, and it makes so many things easier in your day-to-day life. Part of a quality internet connection is having as little latency as possible or reducing the lag time between a request to a server and a response. If latency is low, you will hardly notice it as a factor. However, if latency is high, you will notice that there are problems with certain activities, especially those requiring a constant connection. Essentially, ensuring you have low latency ensures a smoother online experience.

High latency can lead to long load times, problems with gaming or video calls (lag), extra buffering, and dropped calls. It can strike at the worst possible time if not addressed. It can make everything feel sluggish and less enjoyable to work online. However, you aren’t entirely stuck with it.

Here is everything you need to know about internet latency, how to notice it, and how to reduce it:

The Signs of High Internet Latency

High internet latency is not just a thing that exists in theory. It creates measurable changes in your internet connections’ performance and your everyday internet experience. While one millisecond of difference won’t be noticeable, significant differences are evident. You will know if you have high internet latency, even if you don’t know it by that name yet (you might think the internet is acting slow).

To identify the signs, pay attention to your online experience and see if it feels sluggish in the short term or takes just a bit longer for your connection to respond to your requests.

Here are some of the significant signs you have a high latency problem on your device or network:

Slow Loading Times for Websites and Online Content

Some websites and bits of online content will load faster than others. That is to be expected due to factors beyond your control. However, latency can also affect this, as information on pages needs to be requested and responded to. For example, your full Facebook feed doesn’t load all at once. If it takes a bit longer than it should to load posts, latency could be behind it.

And if you’re someone who likes to bounce from page to page, you’ll likely notice a huge difference if you notice a spike in latency. Your request needs to reach the servers, and your latency determines how long that takes. The web page could be comprised of very little data, but it needs to reach you. That’s why your internet speed can feel so slow even if you checked and have a strong download speed.

Buffering or Stuttering When Streaming Video or Audio

When streaming content online, do you notice stuttering? Do you notice things not loading right? High latency can lead to longer buffering times and slight hiccups when streaming content. This can happen with video and audio streams but is more common to notice on video.

Note that this doesn’t have to happen on every platform for it to be a problem. Often there will be a decent enough buffer on some sites where the hiccups and high connection latency make no difference after the first few seconds of the video. This is especially true if you have a good download speed and poor latency. 

Poor Quality of Voice or Video Calls

Do your voice or video calls online appear choppy or otherwise problematic? Do you notice people moving in a slideshow? That could be a poor internet connection, but it also can be caused specifically by poor latency. The connection is struggling to keep up with what is happening in real time, and different apps and systems will deal with that differently. This can lead to different problems or some weirdness (it can only be described as such in some cases) with the call.

Disconnections or Dropped Connections

Many apps and programs are designed to hang on for a bit if there are network problems or dropped data packets. However, the connection must be dropped after a certain point, and you’ll need to make some effort to reestablish your connection if possible. This can interrupt calls, gaming sessions, and someone’s online workflow. Some disconnections can occur for reasons beyond what your internet service is responsible for and are squarely on the shoulders of the app creator or the service you are connected to. However, if you notice no one else is having issues, and it’s happening more to you than it should, it could be an issue related to high latency.

What Causes High Latency

High latency is terrible, but where does it come from? What causes abnormally high latency on otherwise good networks? What are settings and setups that are more likely to cause high latency? We can’t go into every niche cause, but here are the common sources:

Distance From the Server

In general, if a device is further away from the server, there will be more latency. The type of connection can matter here, as will some other factors, but to someone in New York, connecting to a New York server will always have less latency than a connection to an Australian one. While data can travel at close to the speed of light with the right technology, it still takes some time, and that time adds up on the scale of milliseconds. Generally, the further away a server is, the more latency there will be. This is why video calls to the other side of the world can be more challenging than ones to people close by, all else being equal.

Congestion on the Network

Congestion on a network can lead to issues where latency is concerned. While it is more likely to affect download speeds directly, too many people using a network can mean that requests take longer to handle, which in turn means higher latency. This can happen at a household level (which is manageable) and often at a service level from your ISP (not manageable on your end). In either case, be aware of peak hours and how congestion might build up on your network.

Outdated or Malfunctioning Devices

Some devices are better than others when it comes to internet speed and latency. Newer devices (modems and routers are the most important ones) can provide better networks and have less delay, leading to lower latency. Additionally, some errors can cause latency issues.  

While we cannot go over every possible device and malfunction, resetting a modem and router can help. And if need be, the cost of getting a new device is worth not having to deal with high latency.

Interference From Other Devices

Some devices may interfere with others, leading to a situation where there are slow connections and poor latency. The best option for this issue is to ensure that your router is placed correctly and that all devices are correctly connected or hooked up. A wired connection can also help if it doesn’t appear that there is a workable fix to the network. This latency problem can be inconsistent and hard to detect but easy to fix if you know the cause.

Certain Types of Internet Service

Depending on what type of internet service you have, your connection may not be suited to have low latency. Satellite internet, except for Starlink, has extremely poor latency. It can easily reach several hundred milliseconds, and some connections will reach as high as 700 ms, which will not work well for video calls, gaming, and the like. Fixed wireless internet can also have latency issues to a lesser degree. On the other end of the spectrum, fiber internet has the lowest latency.

How to Reduce High Internet Latency

Have you identified high latency on your device or your overall network? If so, then you might want to see if you can reduce that on your end. It isn’t always an easy task, but you can do it and will benefit in the long run for it. While we can’t guarantee everything will work for your situation, here are some of the main things to try:

Restart Your Router and Modem

One thing commonly stated as a troubleshooting step but often overlooked is restarting your router and modem when experiencing problems. This includes high latency. You can reset it by unplugging the equipment from its power, waiting 30 seconds, and then plugging them back in. Alternatively, there may be a button on the modem and router. Just wait a minute or two for the system to automatically start back up and see if there’s an improvement.

Why does this work? Often there might be errors, backlogs, or requests that cannot be fulfilled stuck in the memory of the router and modem. Resetting the equipment clears these, allowing it to work cleanly.

Close Unnecessary Background Programs and Applications

What do you have operating in the background on your network? Are there any large downloads happening or regular processes requiring bandwidth? If so, closing them or pausing them while using your devices can help you get a better online experience and possibly lower your latency.

While this is more likely to affect your bandwidth and download/upload speeds than anything else, it could also affect your latency. 

Clear the Cache and Cookies on Your Device

While unlikely to affect your internet performance, you can clear your cache and cookies on your device and in your browser to hopefully give your system a little boost. It can make your system feel faster and more responsive and potentially clear your system of a few things that slow it down.

You can clear your cache or cookies from the internet history page related to your browser. It can vary a bit by browser, but when you clear your history, you can also select options to clear these things.

Connect to a Wired Rather Than Wireless Connection

A wired connection will always provide a more consistent connection than a wireless one. It may or may not help with latency, but it certainly won’t hurt. Try to use an ethernet cable with your primary device if possible. This will slightly reduce the time it takes your signal to travel. Many gamers swear by a wired connection, especially in first-person shooters and fighting games where quick reflexes and reactions are required. WiFi takes longer to work, and its convenience isn’t necessary for all situations.

Connect to a Different Server

Consider the server you're connected to if you’re experiencing problems with just one application, game, or the like. The farther away it is, the more latency you will experience. If possible and not ruinously inconvenient, try switching to a different server closer to you. This can improve latency.

Also, note that sometimes there will be little you can do on your end to reduce latency, and your connection is fine. It is merely lag on the server side or with someone else on a call or playing a game with you. This can make things feel odd when everything else is fine. In those cases, the only thing to do is wait and hope things improve.

Check Your VPN Usage and Server

A VPN doesn’t necessarily cause higher latency, but it can. It depends on the server being used, the VPN being used, and a few other factors. If you regularly use a VPN online, try a test without it. Alternatively, try switching servers to one that is much closer to you. The difference might reduce your latency, or you might discover that you should consider using a different VPN to lower your latency. If latency is a huge problem, the switch will be worth it.

Contact Your Internet Service Provider

While some latency is expected as part of any internet connection, there are times when it is clearly beyond what it should be. Once you rule out what you’re doing online and the servers you are connected to and notice the latency is constant, it might be time to contact your internet service provider. They may or may not be able to help you fix the problem, and a technician might need to come out in some circumstances, but you won’t be able to fix things without taking action. Make sure to be polite to the customer service rep (it’s not their fault) and set aside some time for the call.

Change Your Internet Service Type

If your ISP cannot or will not do anything about latency, it might be time to look for a new provider. However, if you’re switching from one satellite provider to another, you might not get much of a result. You would likely need to change your internet service type to one with lower latency. Fiber is the best option, though cable internet also has adequate numbers. Note that these service types aren’t available everywhere, but it can’t hurt to check.

If you do want to check, you can use this website to do so. All you need to do is go to our internet service finder tool and type in your zip code in the field. We’ll find out everything for you from there.

Conclusion

Latency is a part of every connection, and it isn’t possible to get it to zero. However, it can get out of hand and ruin what would otherwise be a great internet setup. Look for the signs if you’re concerned, run a speed test that looks at latency, and make the proper adjustments to your setup if you can.

It might take a little work, but we hope you can minimize latency on your network and device so you can enjoy the internet to the fullest. We wish you the best of luck with this endeavor and encourage you to come back to this page if you need to recheck the causes or solutions.