How to reduce ping when you're gaming in 10 easy steps

When you’ve got high ping, gaming online can feel slow, laggy and unresponsive. But loads of other internet issues can also cause the same thing – from a slow download speed to packet loss, and jitter.

Before trying to fix high ping, it’s important to understand what ping is and how it impacts your games so you can rule out any other factors that could be causing your connection issues.

What is ping?

Ping is the time it takes for data to travel from your device to the game server and back. It’s measured in milliseconds (ms), with a lower ping giving you a faster connection and a higher ping leading to lag when you’re playing online.  

If your ping is too high, you’re more likely to experience lag, game stuttering, and delays between your actions and when they happen on the screen in online games.

A good first step to checking whether ping is behind your connection issues is to run a broadband speed test, which shows your download speed, upload speed, and latency. If your latency looks normal but your download or upload speed is poor, then your issue may be due to slow speeds rather than delay.

But if you’ve got high speeds on your device but your latency is high too, it’s most likely the high ping that causing your connection issues when you’re gaming.

There's loads of reasons why your ping might be high, from a bad WiFi signal to network congestion and your broadband simply not being fast enough for everyone at home.

Here are some of the most common causes of high ping:

You can test your ping speed right here with us! Just head over to our broadband speed test to find out your download, upload and latency speed.

Latency directly impacts your ping it’s Latency that's the “delay” you feel when using the internet, while Ping is the measurement of that delay. So if your latency is high, it means you’ve you’ll have high ping.

If you've got high ping, there’s loads of practical ways to you can reduce it and make your internet connection more responsive when you're gaming.

Here are 10 simple but effective steps you can try now:

1. Use a Wired Connection

WiFi is convenient, but it’s prone to interference from walls, furniture, and other electronic devices like microwaves or cordless phones. This interference can cause packet loss and delays, which both increase ping. An Ethernet cable bypasses these issues by providing a direct connection to your router, with wired connections often reducing ping by 10–30ms or more, making them ideal for competitive online gaming.

Pro tip: Use a Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat7 cable for higher speeds and lower latency, and keep cables reasonably short (under 20m) to avoid signal loss.

2. Choose Servers Closer to You

The farther data has to travel, the higher your ping will be. Connecting to a server in another country, like the US when you’re in the UK, can easily add 70–100ms of Ping delay. Always connect to servers in your own country or nearest region to reduce travel time for data. Some apps or games automatically pick servers, but others may default to overloaded ones.

Pro tip: Use server lists in your app or game settings to pick the server with the lowest “ms” reading. You can also test latency to different regions using tools like PingPlotter or Speedtest.net.

3. Close Background Apps

Apps running in the background, like cloud backups (Google Drive, Dropbox), streaming services, or automatic software updates, can consume bandwidth and increase ping. Even seemingly small background apps can make a noticeable difference in online gaming or video calls if you don't have enough bandwidth for all of your online activities.

Pro tip: On Windows, you can check Task Manager (or Activity Monitor on MAC) to see which apps are using up your internet.

4. Limit Other Devices on the Network

Every device on your network shares your bandwidth. If someone is streaming 4K video or downloading large files, your ping can rise if there's not enough of it to go around. If you can, try to limit the number of devices connected to the internet at once to help improve performance on your gaming devices. Some routers also include Quality of Service (QoS) features, allowing you to prioritise devices or apps so your main device gets smoother data flow.

Pro tip: If you don't have enough bandiwdth for everyone at home, save your gaming sessions for quiet hours when there's less devices connected to the internet to reduce your ping.

5. Restart Your Router Regularly

Routers are like mini-computers; over time, they can develop memory issues, errors, or even overheat, all of which can raise ping. Restarting clears these issues and refreshes your connection with your provider. Restarting can also give you a new IP address, which sometimes routes traffic more efficiently.

Pro tip: Power off your router for at least 30 seconds before turning it back on. Doing this once a week or using a smart plug for automatic reboots can keep your connection stable.

6. Move Closer to Your Router

WiFi signals weaken with distance and when obstacles get in the way of signal. Every wall, floor, or large piece of furniture reduces signal strength, forcing your device to resend data and increasing ping. Placing your router in a central, elevated, and open location improves coverage and reduces ping when you're gaming.

Pro tip: If you cannot move closer, consider WiFi boosters or mesh WiFi systems to spread the signal evenly throughout your home.

7. Pause any big downloads

Games, apps, and even your operating system often download updates in the background, sometimes without you even realising. These large downloads can hog your bandwidth, leaving less room for real-time data for gaming and causing spikes in ping.

Pro tip: Before gaming or video calls, pause downloads on platforms like Steam, Epic Games, or your console. Also, set updates to run overnight when you’re not using the internet.

8. Update Your Router and Device Firmware

Routers and devices run software called firmware, which manages how they connect to the internet. Old firmware can be inefficient, unstable, or buggy, leading to higher ping, so keeping your router, PC, console, or phone updated is key to keeping everything running as it should.

Pro tip: Check your router settings every 2–3 months for firmware updates. Many modern routers allow automatic updates to make this easier.

9. Replace Old Equipment

Even with fast broadband with loads of bandwidth, old routers, network cards, or Ethernet cables can create bottlenecks. Older routers may not support current WiFi standards, and older Ethernet cables (Cat5 or below) can cap speeds and increase ping if it impacts your connection. Getting gaming-ready equipment for your connection is a great way to boost your broadband for gaming and reduce ping.

Pro tip: Upgrading to a newer router, ideally one that supports WiFi 6 or mesh systems, can make a noticeable difference to your speed and reliability. All of our broadband deals come with superfast Hub 3, Hub 4, or Hub 5 routers capable of supporting all of the speeds we offer – from 125Mbps to 1Gbps and beyond.

10. Upgrade your broadband package

Sometimes, the problem isn’t with your setup, it’s with the speed you’re paying for. If you’re regularly experiencing high ping, it may to be time to upgrade your broadband package to get those ultrafast internet speeds you’re after. While speed isn’t the same as ping, faster broadband packages give you more bandwidth, and having more headroom allows your connection to handle multiple tasks more smoothly, reducing your ping.

At Virgin Media, we’ve got a range of superfast and ultrafast broadband deals with speeds to suit every home – ranging from 130Mbps to 1Gbps and beyond when you go gigabit.

Not sure what you can get? Check out all of our broadband deals and enter your postcode to see what’s available in your area.